Anne Michaels, 66, is the author of five collections of poetry and three novels, including her debut, Fugitive Pieces, a post-Holocaust narrative cited as “a novel that goes to the heart of any disaster” when it won the Orange (now Women’s) prize in 1997. Her latest novel, Held, now out in paperback, is on the shortlist for this year’s Booker prize, whose winner is announced on 12 November. Praised by the New York Times as “a lyrical jigsaw of impressions and observations”, it moves between 1902 and 2025 in the company of a large cast of characters both fictitious and historical. Michaels spoke from Toronto, her birthplace, where she teaches creative writing.
How does a novel begin life for you?
With an image or a character for whom I feel an immediate compassion – like love at first sight, you know, when it then takes you 50 years to understand that person! I never imagine it’s going to be a short process.
