NYWIFT Blog

By Mariana Valencia

Welcome to NYWIFT, Ceilidh Michelle!

Ceilidh Michelle is the author of Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams (Palimpsest Press 2019), shortlisted for the Hugh MacLennan Award for Fiction; and Vagabond: Venice Beach, Slab City and Points In Between (Douglas & McIntyre 2021). 

Her novella, Living Waters, was shortlisted for the Malahat Review’s Novella Prize and The Commonwealth Prize, she’s received an honorary mention from Writers Digest, and has been shortlisted for the Eunice Williams Prize for Nonfiction.

The CBC has listed her twice as an author to watch.

Her work has appeared in Maclean’s Magazine, 49th Shelf, Room, Saltwire, Longreads, and others.

Originally from Nova Scotia, she lives in New York.

New NYWIFT Member Ceilidh Michelle

Could you give our readers a brief introduction to yourself?

My name is Ceilidh Michelle. Originally from Nova Scotia, I moved to Montreal where I studied Creative Writing at Concordia University and published two books, Butterflies, Zebras, Moonbeams (Palimpsest Press 2019), about coming of age in Montreal’s indie rock scene, shortlisted for the Hugh MacLennan Award for Fiction, and a memoir, Vagabond: Venice Beach, Slab City and Points In Between (Douglas & McIntyre 2020) about being unhoused in California. 

What brought you to NYWIFT?

My friend Dali Adekunle brought me to a NYWIFT event last year. Getting to meet so many WOMEN in this industry has made me very hopeful. I also love being a part of a community. Knowing my neighbors and being a good neighbor. 

What aspects of your life and background have motivated the stories you want to tell?

As someone who has lived in all kinds of stable and unstable situations, known financial disparity, and experienced religious extremism in my childhood, I believe I’ve been gifted great literary fodder.

I think what is asked of storytellers is that we see the world in all its parts, that we know how it feels, the highs and lows of being alive. I do not judge my times of struggle, because they have been a literary opportunity to know what it’s really like to be here.

Ceilidh Michelle Novel Vagabond: Venice Beach, Slab City and Points In Between

What characteristics and/or aspects of your characters connect you to them? 

I love writing about characters who are seekers. We are all on a quest, and so I keep writing characters on journeys, whether that be spiritual or physical, or both. Searching for family and a place to call home are themes that appear in my work often. 

What is the most fulfilling aspect of guiding and mentoring writers? 

The most fulfilling part about mentoring writers is getting to see their stories emerge and see them step into their own autonomy. The first thing most people say is, “Oh, I’m not a writer,” yet they have these incredible stories of survival or endurance or daily life that is beautiful simply because it’s theirs. Watching a burgeoning storyteller find value in their experiences, enough to share it with others, is nothing short of a small miracle. 

NYWIFT Member Ceilidh on set.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far in your career?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my career is that landing an agent is not some final, penultimate goal. Agents can be such helpful, valuable partners, but fixating on landing one can narrow your ideas of what your creative journey can be. These days, so many agents are like, “If you do this or this wrong in your query, I’m not even looking at your work.” But with querying, all you’re doing is asking, “Does this appeal to your personal taste?”

Everyone has their own tastes, and things that speak to them, and that’s okay. It is also helpful to remember when an agent isn’t interested in your work. But writers and artists don’t just create lasting work, we also create jobs for agents. Agents and artists can have beautiful working partnerships together, and necessary partnerships too, but capitalism has us forgetting who’s really providing what for whom. Without the foundation of scripts and books, the whole house, beautiful as it may be, falls down.

What project(s) are you currently working on that our readers should be on the lookout for?

I just finished my second feature script, am currently adapting a novel-in-stories I wrote into a limited series, I recently finished writing my fourth book, and I’m currently working on my first comedic pilot!

Oh, and I’ll be attempting to write my first play in the fall! I just finished wrapping my first short film as a director, too, and that was super rewarding! You can do anything! 

Connect with Ceilidh on Instagram at @ceilidh_michelle and on her website www.ceilidhmichelle.com to learn more about her upcoming novels. 

(All images courtesy of Ceilidh Michelle)