Memories of growing up in Kelowna in the 1990s have provide the backdrop for a new novel by award-winning author Naben Ruthnum.
Ruthnum’s latest book, The Grimmer, is set in Kelowna, the story of a metalhead high schooler as he battles with an interdimensional invasion while also dealing with being one of the only brown kids in a small town.
Written to be “a gripping ride through the supernatural loaded with vivid characters and frightening imagery,” it is Ruthnum’s upbringing in Kelowna that provides the book’s scene backdrop.
“I just thought it would be kind of neat to revisit Kelowna of the 1990s,” said Ruthnum, whose parents are of Mauritian descent.
“There were times when I would feel a bit alien or isolated but it was never a hostile place to me. I have a lot of fond feelings of growing up there.”
He lived in Kelowna from age four until 18 when he graduated from Kelowna Secondary School.
“I live in Toronto now but still have a connection to Kelowna. My parents live in north Glenmore and I try to get out there twice a year to visit them.”
Ruthnum said he had to self-edit himself in confining the story to a limited number of local locales.
“There are so many things I remember that served as ideas to include in the book but I did not want to let the setting overwhelm the story.”
Kelowna has changed from Ruthnum’s childhood – it has grown in size, population demographics are more ethnically diverse, and he sees a more youthful vibe in the city while falling short in urban planning foresight.
He credits his KSS Grade 8 and 12 English teacher, Shirley Stuart, as being influential in encouraging him to pursue being a writer.
“She was just very quietly confident in me that I could become some sort of writer someday, which was something that was nice to hear for me at that age…that quiet confidence she gave me that you can do this,” he recalled.
The concept of incorporating the Kelowna of his childhood into a book was a step in the storytelling process that led him down a writing path that doesn’t always evolve into literary fruition.
“An idea comes to me and you start to write it. You get about 20 pages in, then you step back and look at what it is and where it might go,” he said.
“Sometimes I have gotten up to 100 pages into novel ideas and find they just don’t hold up. If it is not interesting enough for me to keep going then you believe nobody will want to read it either.”
Ruthnum won the Journey Prize in 2012 for his story story Cinema Rex. He has since written Curry: Eating and Race in 2017, a non-fiction essay collection about immigrant cultural identity in food and literature, and two thriller novels, Find You In The Dark and Your Life is Mine.
More recently, A Hero Of Our Time was published in January 2022 and the novella, Helpmeet, was published in May 2022.
Being what he calls ‘a working writer,’ to earn a living Ruthnum has learned how to juggle multiple writing projects at once, which has led him into the screenwriting world.
He has written scripts for episodes of the television series Cardinal and Murdoch Mysteries.
While screenwriting pays better than writing books, actually navigating a script to production is a challenging process.
“It is a tougher game to get into because today there are more self-publishing options out there, but it pays better,” he said.
That’s because while a script treatment may not make it to the screen, he still gets paid for his writing efforts in the development process.
“The problem is there are only so many seats in the movie and television writing world and it pays so well that people really want one of those seats. So I am trying to work my way in there,” he said.
The Grimmer is available at most bookstores identified online at ecwpress.com/products/the-grimmer.