Robin Pacific’s memoir, Skater Girl, (Guernica Editions, 2024) is an electric and disruptive examination of a life that challenges assumptions of not only how a memoir should read, but also, how women should act. It is definitely one of our favourite nonfiction reads this year, and we’re thrilled to have Robin on our Power Q & A to share a little bit more about her scrappy and sensational book.
Welcome Robin!
Grab a copy of Skater Girl from Guernica Editions, or your local independent bookstore.
Q: What is the significance of the subtitle to Skater Girl: “An Archaeology of the Self”?
A: In the final essay in the book, I describe “sifting through the midden of consciousness, examining potsherds, shells, a broken piece of mirror.” As I wrote, I was digging down deep to find different parts of myself, in different eras and in different narratives. In the first essay in the book I talk about the mutability of the self, a concept propounded by Montaigne in his Essays in the sixteenth century. In some ways, and the book attests to this, I’ve been many different people in my life, and have even had different surnames. In other crucial ways the book is a spiritual odyssey, an attempt to find the “true self” as Thomas Merton called it. Living through the crucible of grief and loss, I came to believe in God and in the immutable soul. This is, I understand, completely irrational and indefensible. But it saved my life.
Similarly, memory in the book, as both concept and imaginative act, is slippery. The image of a broken piece of mirror is an apt metaphor. Even as I recount detailed memories from childhood and beyond, I question the authenticity of memory. Remembered details blossom into whole stories, the veracity of which I wouldn’t defend in a court of law. But the emotional truth is there, the colour and tone of the experiences, and I hope that is what readers respond to.
The wonderful Robin Pacific!
More about Skater Girl:
Skater Girl is a collection of intensely personal essays, an archaeology of the self. Robin Pacific sifts through the midden of consciousness to find shells, potsherds, a broken piece of mirror. Themes of art, spirituality and social justice run like a current through otherwise disconnected pieces and fragments, many as short as one paragraph. Further, ideas about aging, loss and mortality colour many of them. The book is about the formation of Robin Pacific's many selves, about creativity, spiritual seeking, and the dream of a more equal society.
More about Robin Pacific:
Robin Pacific‘s work has spanned thirty years and a wide variety of media. In addition to writing personal and critical essays, she has produced artworks in a variety of media, encompassing painting, drawing, video, installations, performance, and numerous community-based collaborations. Robin holds a PhD in English Literature from York University, a Masters in Theological Studies from Regis College, and a Masters in Fine Art, Creative Nonfiction, from Kings College. Skater Girl is her first full-length book.