Profile
Linda Rogers
L
inda Rogers is a novelist, essayist, journalist, editor and songwriter. She is past Victoria Poet Laureate, Canadian People’s Poet, and President of the League of Canadian Poets, and the BC Federation of Writers. Linda has published 29 books—including poetry, children’s books, fiction, non-fiction—and has been included in a number of anthologies. She has received the Leacock Prize, the National Poetry Prize, the Dorothy Livesay Prize, the Gwendolyn MacEwen Prize and the Milton Acorn Award in Canada, among others. Linda is the mother of three, step-mother of one, grandmother of four and is married to blues mandolinist Rick Van Krugel. She values and celebrates children and families and believes “a healthy world depends on healthy children.” When asked to take part in GRAND’s Q & A being a grandparent, she answered: “…there is NOTHING more important to me. You could give me an option, “…talk about grandparenting or receive the Nobel Prize” and that would be a no brainer. I’d LOVE to answer your questions.” Q. How many children do you have? What are their names? I have a stepdaughter, Eva, and three sons Sasha, Keefer and Tristan, plus a bunch of kids we regard as family who outgrew us in different ways, some of whom revisit with affection. Others are spirit kids now, the ones who didn’t survive the trauma of colonisation: Tony, Clyde, Russell. Q. How many grandchildren do you have? What are their names and ages? Where do they live? Four grandchildren: Sophie, 28, James Sage, 26, Olive, 19, and Isabel, 13, all of whom live in Victoria. Wahoo! Q. What do you love most about being a grandparent? Least? What I love most is knowing that child-love is an inherited characteristic. When children are respected, it is learned behaviour. I love watching my family nourish their children the way they grow their gardens, and no matter how embarrassing I may be as a non-adult adult, something has resonated: respect for human rights and especially the rights of children. I love having a hand in the development of
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their passion and watching them grow into themselves. I least like what I love most, watching them grow, because growth means independence and my ultimate redundancy except the part about retaining the important things, passion for truth and beauty, respect for life in all its forms. Q. How is being a grandparent different than being a parent? Not much different except instead of opposing our parents we occasionally oppose our kids who might sometimes feel the temptation think we are inspiring crazy in their precious life projects. One of them mentioned “Undermining authority.” Yes. Right. Bring it on. That is the job description. The only rule is kindness, kids. Q. What was important to you as a parent when you were raising your own children? It was important to me that my children knew their own worth and respected the value of others. I hoped to lead them into experiences that would give them joy for the rest of their lives and that they would be kind. As a feminist, I realised that what my sons grandmag.ca
