Collected interviews with the author of Pale Horse, Pale Rider; Flowering Judas; and The Leaning Tower

Joan Givner was born in Manchester, England, in 1936. After studying at London University and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, she began teaching at the Unviersity of Regina in 1965; later she edited the Wascana Review. She has published biographies of Katherine Anne Porter (1982) and Mazo de la Roche (1989) and two collections of stories, most recently Scenes from Provincial Life (1991). "Elizabeth," a prize winner in the 1991 CBC Canadian Literary Awards, was published in a Joan Givner Special Issue of Room of One's Own in 1992.

Joan Givner's profile page

Porter was a cosmopolitan charmer who didn't hesitate to embellish her biography (in her imagination she descended from southern gentility rather than her poor Texas farm family). She alternated between the persona of southern belle and the self-assured, experienced artist she was. The twenty-four selections, ranging from a profile as a young teacher in 1916 to a birthday celebration six decades later, reflect her long career. She is at her best in a Wesleyan College panel. While these “conversations? cannot be trusted for biographical research, they provide rewarding insights for students of literature.

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