Nicole Blades was born and raised in Montreal. After graduating in 1994 with a BA in Mass Communications and a BA in Psychology from York University, she moved to New York City and worked at Essence magazine. In 1997, Nicole relocated to Barbados and worked as a features writer and editor for The Nation.

Nicole went on to be president and co-founder of the San Francisco-based, online women’s magazine SheNetworks. Later, she became an editor at ESPN, in New York. 

Her first book, Earth's Waters (DC Books, 2007), won a bronze medal for multicultural fiction in the 2007 US Independent Publishers Book Awards. Nicole is currently working on a collection of short stories. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her website is www.nicoleblades.com.

[January 2008]

Nicole Blades reads in New York City with fellow Montreal Authors Marie Helene Poitras and Sheila Fischman as part of The Upper North Side Canadian Authors Series on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 7 p.m. - McNally Robinson Booksellers - 52 Prince Street (between Lafayette and Mulberry Streets) - Info: (212) 274-1160

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NB: I started working on Earth's Waters at two different stages, actually. The original seed/idea was planted in my mind one morning when I was riding the ZR (a small van-like bus) to work when I was living in Barbados back in 1997. I was working as a reporter for The Nation, one of the local newspapers, and I would interact with such interesting local characters throughout the day--both in the office and out on assignment. This one morning, looking out the window, I spotted this old woman selling newspapers and nuts near Westbury Cemetery (it might be called something else now). For whatever reason, my mind stayed on her. 

I started thinking about the people--the regulars--who stop by her cart to get their newspaper or pack of raw nuts before heading off to the rest of their day. I had this specific idea about a story where three different characters' lives play out in very different ways, yet they are all connected to each other through this newspaper woman. Anyway, I wrote a few thoughts down--half scenes, some dialogue and character descriptions--but didn't really develop it all the way until a year or two later, when I was in California. It was after the dot-com fallout, and I needed to put my creative energy into something solid, so I went back to the story and started writing.

TDR: What inspires you as a writer?

NB: I find inspiration in so many places. As for literary, I'd say Alice Munro, Octavia Butler, Edwidge Danticat, Jhumpa Lahiri, V.S. Naipaul...to name just a few. Other inspirations include my husband Scott, my parents, grandmothers, movies, music, photography.

TDR: Where did you grow up? Can you tell us a bit about your background?

NB: I was born and raised in Montreal. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school called Sacred Heart School of Montreal. For college I decided I wanted a change of scenery, and went to York University in Toronto. The other draw for me was that York offered a program that sounded great: Mass Communications. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was entertaining the idea of becoming a journalist so it appealed to me. 

By the time I was in my final year at York, I was set on journalism and writing. (Of course, there was a brief period where I considered law--corporate law, and even took the LSAT--but that all passed.) I graduated with honors with a BA in Mass Communications and a BA in Psychology. 

Two months after graduating, I moved to New York City, staying with a family friend. I worked as a public relations internship, assuring my folks that it was only temporary and that I would apply to grad school ay NYU or Columbia for journalism. That was my intention, but it never came to fruition. I ended up working in PR at the Sally Jessy Raphael talk show--and that was quite the experience. I quickly realized that I didn't want anything to do with PR. Then in a case of right place, right time, I ended up getting a job as an editorial assistant for Essence magazine. That was the best launch pad.

NB: After living and working in New York City for three and a half years, I started to feel a bit rundown by the city. The speed can be so fast and the high energy overflowing here. I started to feel a little lost. My family is from Barbados, so I decided to take a trip there. It had been 12 years since my last visit to Barbados with my family. I extended the vacation from two weeks to five to see how I would like being there after the "vacation" glow faded a bit. 

I interviewed at the newspapers, and the Nation called me back with an offer. I moved there in 1997 and left three months shy of two years. From there I moved back to Toronto for a bit, where I got involved with new media. With my then business partner, I started an online women's resource center and magazine called SheNetworks. We did well, and ended up moving me to San Francisco to really get plugged into the dot-com glory of the times.

TDR: How do you find the New York literary scene?

NB: The New York literary scene is unbelievably diverse. Small press, independent press, large publishing houses...it's all represented here. It can also feel very competitive and daunting--if what you are looking for is instant bestseller fame, an Oprah stamp and New York Times spotlight. There are some fine writers living in New York, and many even in Brooklyn. New York City is the literary center of the United States.

TDR: How has traveling played into your work?

NB: Traveling has been a fantastic tool for me. I'm sure I'm not the first person to take a great interest in people, their varied cultures, accents, languages, dynamics, and nuances. Traveling helps to add breadth and depth to your life experience, which can only do good things for your story-telling. I've met such remarkable people--and some straight-up loons, too--and they all have added something to my stories. Traveling helps you develop compassion, I think. 

Without my travels to Barbados, this book would not have been. For years I had enjoyed the stories of life in Barbados and the Caribbean that my father told so well at the dinner table and in the car on road trips. I have a vivid imagination and my father tells great stories, but I needed to go there and experience and see the island for myself in order to translate things into a book.