My Story

One of the first stories I remember writing was about a princess sacrificed to a dragon who made friends with the dragon and lived in his cave to avoid being married to a random prince. I do not remember being aware I was plagiarizing Robert Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess, but obviously that’s what I did. It won third prize in a local library contest; apparently the judge wasn’t familiar with the genius of Munsch.

In Grade 10, hiding in the school library at lunch, I happened to find Leonard Cohen’s Book of Mercy. I’d actually started writing a little poetry after we did his poem “A Kite Is a Victim” in Grade 8 English, so I was already a fan. I remember sitting cross-legged on the hard-wear carpet, bent over the book in my lap, reading from cover to cover. I decided then that if Leonard Cohen could turn difficulty and self-hatred into something beautiful, I wanted to do the same.

I first published some poems and did a few readings at around 18. I hadn’t considered ahead of time how sharing my work would affect me, that people would read what I had written and have ideas about the work, and me, because of it. Writer’s block followed. I wrote a bit here and there in the following two decades but didn’t publish anything. I moved from the country outside Grande Prairie to Vancouver, and used the page to work through the difference between Albertan and Coastal skies, and between the bush and city parks. I also wrote about the other big thing that was happening for me: clinical depression.

Then at 37 I sort of woke up to myself, not as depressed as I had been, with enough poems for a book and (just) brave enough to publish again. The poems are about childhood and the country, young adulthood and the city, depression and trying to find hope. Also bugs and jellyfish and other things I’ve noticed along the way. Since then I’ve had poems accepted in Prism, The Dalhousie Review and The New Quarterly. My book, titled Big Sky Falling, was published by Ronsdale Press in November of 2021.

I’ve also started writing short stories again, partly as an excuse to eavesdrop on strangers in cafes. In my fiction I’m interested in the small moments when things change for my characters, whether they’re trying (and failing) to remember why they married this guy, or going to a support group they hate. I’m looking for homes for my stories too, and continuing to write things down.

Official Bio

Kelsey Andrews is best known for her poetry, though she writes short fiction too. Recently published in Prism, The Dalhousie Review, The New Quarterly, and Prairie Fire, she writes first drafts in cheap notebooks so she doesn’t feel like she’s ruining a fancy one. She’s written about birdwatching when you can’t see the birds, suicide, snails, and two separate poems about turning into rock. Kelsey grew up in the country near Grande Prairie in Northern Alberta, then moved to the West Coast, and these two landscapes anchor much of her work while she travels her past and various possible presents. She loves, in no particular order, the moon, crows, getting a line exactly right after many drafts, and chocolate. Her first book, Big Sky Falling, came out with Ronsdale Press in November 2021.