Q & A with Darrell Duke

1. If you could live during any time period and in any place, when and where would you choose?

Romantically, I’d be aboard the schooner Annie Healy on August 25, 1927, and graced with the strength and skill of the crew, I’d play my part in trying to save the boat against the gale which, ultimately, ensured the men and the schooner a place in history. Realistically, I’d stay right here in the company of a great family, great friends, a beautiful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a new baby and a new book on the way, with possibilities galore.

2. What do you like to do in your free time?

Drive to Bonavista, pick up Captain John Russell, and visit coves where homes, stages, and flakes once stood, and listen intently to my friend reminisce as he looks to the sea; play guitar for and sing along with my daughter’s soothing voice; jam with my dad and my brother; carry on with my mom and my sister; play the fool for my niece and nephew; listen to my friends; and play sitar.

3. What kind of music do you listen to?

Pat and Joe Byrne w/Baxter Wareham 24/7, Neil Young, Stan Rogers, Jim Croce, Ryan’s Fancy, Dubliners, Gordon Lightfoot, Rolling Stones, U2, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar

4. What is your favourite food?

Salt fish and potatoes, Salt-fish cakes, pan-fried fresh cod, toast with my own homemade jam of the season (currently rhubarb, next damson), toutons and molasses, Lemon Creams . . . all with tea. And anything Mom makes and Mrs. Nolan’s turkey-neck soup.

5. Who is your favourite author(s)?

Frank McCourt, Leon Uris, Tom Moore, Captain John Russell, Eckhart Tolle, and Cassie Brown.

6. What are you reading now?

Gary Cranford’s Norma & Gladys, Wallace Furlong’s Georgestown, and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth

7. What was your first piece in print (book, review, or article, etc)?

An article on my musical journey (The Charter, 1997).

8. When do you like to write (time of day, day of week)? Where do you do your writing (location)?

At night, and preferably at our old house on Placentia Beach in the comfort of the woodstove, the light of kerosene lanterns and candles, and with the window cracked just enough to hear the waves combing the beach rocks, and to smell the rose bushes thriving on the salt air.

9. What other jobs have you had besides being a writer?

Musician, plasterer/painter, journalist, event-planner, photographer, and host of others I hope never to have to repeat again. Currently, I work for Independent Living, a wonderful organization.

10. Make a question of your own and then answer it.

Where and how would you like to end your time on earth?

In the poorest African village helping and teaching those who really need help, instead of existing in North America trying to keep up with the foolishness of society.