May is National Short Story Month and we’re kicking it off with a brief and salient interview with award-winning multi-genre writer Sharon Berg, author of many books, including the short fiction collection, Naming the Shadows (Porcupine’s Quill 2019). Never one to shy away from tough conversations, we ask Sharon about writing difficult subjects as a necessary part of the responsibility we bear for one another.
Thank you to Sharon for joining us, and for your thoughtful response to our question. Keep reading.
Naming the Shadows by Sharon Berg (Porcupine’s Quill 2019).
Q: We are interested in your advice for writers who want to deal with difficult topics like violence against children, and how to do this with honesty while still being sensitive to readers. We are not readers who feel like we should be spared violence to save our own fragile sense of safety. We never think we should turn from the humanity of others.
A: Yes, I’m dealing with violence against children and young women in my stories and poetry all the time! If people hadn't turned away from the horrible things being done to me as a child or young woman, and if several agencies hadn’t failed me or my children, our lives would have turned out a whole lot differently. A big part of that is the laws protecting children need to be stronger, and the agencies claiming to safeguard them have to be more honest about what they will or cannot [read that as do not] do for them. Andrea Munro’s case against the husband of her mother points this out as she was failed by so many people and agencies in dealing with her trauma. Everyone is quick to point to Alice Munro’s failings but they don’t address the basic fact that neither her father or the several agencies involved truly addressed her pain.
There can be no denial that our laws need to change. When my daughter was sexually abused as a four-year-old by a neighbour in 1979, I was told by a policeman who said he 100% believed her, no child could testify against an adult. He suggested I try to catch him in the act next time. Absurd. I moved within two weeks. But I can tell you nothing is different in 2025 and that is beyond ridiculous. We have a duty as individuals living in a democracy such as Canada... to protect children and each other... or our house is built on a pile of lies.
I can’t be convinced people don’t have a responsibility to each other when we live in community. That’s the definition of community in my eyes. Refusing to review our legal response and neighbourly alert systems to the various trauma suffered by children says we deny our reality. I believe, as a writer, I have a duty. Fiction and poetry can and has addressed the unwilling observor and pulled them into action. Stories can speak to the heart, convincing us through artful writing, to address the trauma suffered by others. What I’m addressing in my stories is mainly the daily skirmishes being fought in our country and others around the world, the hidden casualties of an on-going war with paternalism and criminal mindset. That sort of war is just as important as any other. It gives criminals an arena to practice in. We need to stand on guard for all of those daily victims.
I truly believe I’m broadening people’s awareness through my writing or I wouldn’t bother. As Margaret Atwood has said, nothing I write about hasn’t happened, and I’d lay dollars to donuts the same is true for Alice Munro and Margaret Laurence. For my own female characters, I’d say nothing I write about hasn’t happened to me or a dearly loved one. Who can argue with the truth? I can’t speak for other authors, but I just add some literary devices and stir.
More about Naming the Shadows (Porcupine’s Quill 2019):
Sharon Berg’s quietly insightful collection focuses on relationships between generations, acknowledging the prevalence of the shadows that are everywhere—but also celebrating the light.
The stories in Naming the Shadows are touched with humour and outrage, mystery and shadow. Curious preteens receive an unexpected education at a mall-side carnival show. A lonely dairy farmer develops a special bond with his neighbours’ children, then suffers unexpected consequences. An ageing author manages to get one up on her adversarial interviewer, while another woman’s unsettling way of remembering past lovers confirms her emotional freedom.
In these stories of loss and learning, conflict and memory run through generations, innocence gives way to experience, and all must learn to redefine themselves and the way they see the world.
Author Sharon Berg. Photo credit: Cathi Carr.
More About Sharon Berg:
Sharon Berg’s work appears in Canada, USA, Mexico, England, Wales, Amsterdam, Germany, India, Singapore, and Australia. Her poetry includes To a Young Horse (Borealis 1979), The Body Labyrinth (Coach House 1984), three poetry chapbooks (2006, 2016, 2017), plus Stars in the Junkyard (Cyberwit 2020) was a 2022 International Book Award Finalist. Her short story collection is Naming the Shadows (Porcupine’s Quill 2019). The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School (BPR Press 2019) won a 2020 IPPY Award for Regional Nonfiction. She’s Resident Interviewer for The tEmz Review (London, ON, Canada) and operates Oceanview Writers Retreat out of Charlottetown, Newfoundland, Canada.