Indie Reading Room: Raye Anderson

All Lit Up: Tell us a little about your book and how it came to be. Raye Anderson: And We Shall Have Snow is a murder mystery and is set in the Manitoba Interlake, where I live. It grew out of a writing exercise—to write something in a style that I like to read. I have always enjoyed reading crime fiction and what popped into my head was the first chapter of this book. I knew exactly where it needed to go next and I knew that it had the makings of a book. I didn’t set out to be a crime fiction writer. It was as if the form found me. 

ALU: What, outside of literature, inspires and informs your work?RA: Landscape. I love crime fiction that has a strong sense of place. In this case, it’s also climate—the winter here can be stunningly beautiful but also deadly. That seemed like a strong motif for a murder mystery. ALU: What has been your most unlikely source of inspiration?RA: There’s no garbage pickup at my house, so I go regularly to the local dump. So guess where the first body shows up…ALU: Do you have any writing rituals?RA: I write the first draft of each chapter in longhand, double-spaced, in lined, spiral-bound notebooks. And the last thing I do with each chapter is read it aloud, for flow. ALU: What’s a book you recently read that you would recommend?RA: I am halfway through Joan Thomas’s book, Five Wives, and am totally engrossed. Fascinating story, beautiful writing.

* * *

Watch a trailer for And We Shall Have Snow!

* * *

Raye Anderson spent many years running theatre schools and delivering creative learning programs for arts organizations in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Calgary. Her work has taken her across Canada, from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, and as far north as Churchill and Yellowknife, as well as to the West Indies and her native Scotland. These days home is Manitoba’s Interlake, where she is part of a thriving arts community. And We Shall Have Snow is her first crime novel.

* * *

Buy And We Shall Have Snow for 20% off on All Lit Up until September 24 with the Indie Reading Room promo code READINGROOM. Check out Raye in the ALU Indie Reading Room on Instagram, and stay tuned every Thursday until November 12th for more author readings and Q&As.