Russell Wangersky is a Canadian journalist and author of fiction and creative non-fiction. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he was raised in Canada from age three and studied at Acadia University. A longtime editor, columnist, and magazine writer, he has been nominated for the National Newspaper Award four times, winning once, and is a four-time National Magazine Award finalist.
His debut short story collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions (2006), was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and shortlisted for several other awards. His novel The Glass Harmonica won the 2011 Winterset Award, and his 2012 collection Whirl Away was a Giller Prize finalist and won the 2013 Thomas Head Raddall Award.
The story "Sharp Corner" from Whirl Away was adapted into a 2024 feature film by Jason Buxton.
1. What is the genesis of your short story “Sharp Corner”?
I came up with the idea for the story after hearing about a house in the Goulds, just outside of St. John’s, where there had been a series of high-speed crashes, with injuries and deaths. I’d driven by the spot several times, and could never understand why the accidents occurred – gradual corner, good pavement, lots of open view. Then I began to wonder about what it would be like to live in a place where that sort of thing happened, and what it might do to the people who had witnessed it. “What happens if…” is often the way my short stories begin.
2. Were there other titles you came up with before the book title “Whirl Away”? If so, what were they?
It was always Whirl Away — primarily because every main character in every story is caught in their own small dervish, spinning madly and unable to escape, however much they might want to.
3. What was your writing schedule when you wrote “Whirl Away”?
My writing schedule has been the same through my entire writing career — I’m a full-time columnist and editor, so my fiction and non-fiction books have been written on the shoulders of my day job. Nights and weekends, sometimes a book leave for a short intense period, vacations used for on-location research. You take time where you can get it, or where you can steal it.
4. Congrats on your short story “Sharp Corner” being made into a feature film, could you tell us how you found out that your book will be adapted into a film?
A book becoming a film is an astounding long shot. Usually, they just get optioned and then the option expires and that’s it. The director, Jason Buxton, was looking for an idea for his next film, and came across my book at Chapters 12 or so years ago. He phoned me directly asking if he could use the story (and, originally, two others as well) to make a feature film. He optioned the stories and stuck with his vision for years, through changes in provincial film tax policies and COVID and a WAG strike, through the search for funding and producers, until he finally got it made.
5. What are your thoughts about director Jason Buxton's take on your short story? Were you involved, in any way, in the adaptation?
If anything, Jason’s take was even darker than my own. My wife Leslie turned to me at the end of the premiere and said “He’s out-Russelled Russell.” Jason — and Ben Foster — brought the main character I'd written about to life in a way that I found almost frightening. I thought it was magic, because Jason managed to turn all the interior dialogue into a presence on screen. I wasn’t deeply involved in the adaptation — I was consulted on some of the accident practicalities, because I was a firefighter for several years, and got to see the early drafts of the script. But I very much took the view all along that a book and a movie are two very different beasts, and that I should stick to my own lane.
6. Did you make a cameo in the film? If not, why didn’t you?
No – it filmed in Nova Scotia while I was starting a new journalism job in Winnipeg, and nothing really lined up.
7. Were you ever on set? If so, could you tell me your memorable moment?
No – though I was invited on set by Jason.
8. Were you able to conversate with any of the cast members? If so, could you give an interesting fact about any of them?
I got to talk to Ben Foster, at the afterparty for the premiere. It was pretty astounding – I just was so eager to tell him how well he had captured the mind of the character I had written about. An interesting fact? He’s physically smaller that you’d expect, but at the same time, his personal presence is huge.
9. Which of your other stories from “Whirl Away” would you like to see made into a film or TV series?
Another story has been optioned by a different filmmaker – “Echo”, a story about a young boy’s reaction to being surrounded by a dysfunctional and violent family. There are several others that I think could be candidates for film — Family Law, Echo, The Gasper — plus a number of stories from my three other short story collections (One of which is set for publication in the spring of 2026).
10. Which of your other novels would you like to see made into a film or TV Series?
My mystery novel Walt, about a grocery store janitor who uses discarded grocery lists to stalk unsuspecting women. It was briefly optioned for a feature film, but the option has expired. And The Glass Harmonica, an episodic novel about the events going on along a single St. John’s street, told chapter by chapter through the different viewpoints of different homeowners.
11. Are there any novel/novella/short story/article (besides yours) that you would like to see adapted into a film or TV series?
Not that I can think of.
12. Have you ever considered writing a screenplay?
Not my skill set, I don’t think. I write as if I’m watching what’s happening, and it’s a very visual process, but I don’t think I’d be good at breaking those images into functional fragments or scenes.
13. What’s the best advice you have ever received about writing?
Always read everything you write out loud. It lets you capture errors in spelling, punctuation, pace and style.
14. If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?
I am painfully shy. The idea of my own talk show terrifies me. I would prefer that all three first guests cancel.
15. If you have the power to bring back an author from the dead, for one day, to meet with, who would that be?
I think John Cheever – mostly because he worked in the same part of the human mind that I find most fascinating. The part that drives why people do what they do, and how they can’t escape themselves, no matter how hard they try — and how much they want to.
16. Do you have any favorite quote or sentence from a novel you like or any novel in general?
Not that springs to mind.
17. What is the one thing you love most about Acadia University?
The campus, and the surroundings. It was, for me, the perfect place to become someone independent as an adult, without being rushed or pushed by my surroundings.
18. Last question, I’ll ask the same question I asked author Richard C. Morais about cooking: What has cooking taught you about life?
That there are recipes for a reason. That you can’t step into something and expect to be an expert until you’ve put in the time to develop knowledge and muscle memory and the understanding about what works and why. Also what doesn’t work — and why. And that, eventually, you’ll know enough to make something uniquely your own, but only on the shoulders of those who’ve come before you.
His debut short story collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions (2006), was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and shortlisted for several other awards. His novel The Glass Harmonica won the 2011 Winterset Award, and his 2012 collection Whirl Away was a Giller Prize finalist and won the 2013 Thomas Head Raddall Award.
The story "Sharp Corner" from Whirl Away was adapted into a 2024 feature film by Jason Buxton.
1. What is the genesis of your short story “Sharp Corner”?
I came up with the idea for the story after hearing about a house in the Goulds, just outside of St. John’s, where there had been a series of high-speed crashes, with injuries and deaths. I’d driven by the spot several times, and could never understand why the accidents occurred – gradual corner, good pavement, lots of open view. Then I began to wonder about what it would be like to live in a place where that sort of thing happened, and what it might do to the people who had witnessed it. “What happens if…” is often the way my short stories begin.
2. Were there other titles you came up with before the book title “Whirl Away”? If so, what were they?
It was always Whirl Away — primarily because every main character in every story is caught in their own small dervish, spinning madly and unable to escape, however much they might want to.
3. What was your writing schedule when you wrote “Whirl Away”?
My writing schedule has been the same through my entire writing career — I’m a full-time columnist and editor, so my fiction and non-fiction books have been written on the shoulders of my day job. Nights and weekends, sometimes a book leave for a short intense period, vacations used for on-location research. You take time where you can get it, or where you can steal it.
4. Congrats on your short story “Sharp Corner” being made into a feature film, could you tell us how you found out that your book will be adapted into a film?
A book becoming a film is an astounding long shot. Usually, they just get optioned and then the option expires and that’s it. The director, Jason Buxton, was looking for an idea for his next film, and came across my book at Chapters 12 or so years ago. He phoned me directly asking if he could use the story (and, originally, two others as well) to make a feature film. He optioned the stories and stuck with his vision for years, through changes in provincial film tax policies and COVID and a WAG strike, through the search for funding and producers, until he finally got it made.
5. What are your thoughts about director Jason Buxton's take on your short story? Were you involved, in any way, in the adaptation?
If anything, Jason’s take was even darker than my own. My wife Leslie turned to me at the end of the premiere and said “He’s out-Russelled Russell.” Jason — and Ben Foster — brought the main character I'd written about to life in a way that I found almost frightening. I thought it was magic, because Jason managed to turn all the interior dialogue into a presence on screen. I wasn’t deeply involved in the adaptation — I was consulted on some of the accident practicalities, because I was a firefighter for several years, and got to see the early drafts of the script. But I very much took the view all along that a book and a movie are two very different beasts, and that I should stick to my own lane.
6. Did you make a cameo in the film? If not, why didn’t you?
No – it filmed in Nova Scotia while I was starting a new journalism job in Winnipeg, and nothing really lined up.
7. Were you ever on set? If so, could you tell me your memorable moment?
No – though I was invited on set by Jason.
8. Were you able to conversate with any of the cast members? If so, could you give an interesting fact about any of them?
I got to talk to Ben Foster, at the afterparty for the premiere. It was pretty astounding – I just was so eager to tell him how well he had captured the mind of the character I had written about. An interesting fact? He’s physically smaller that you’d expect, but at the same time, his personal presence is huge.
9. Which of your other stories from “Whirl Away” would you like to see made into a film or TV series?
Another story has been optioned by a different filmmaker – “Echo”, a story about a young boy’s reaction to being surrounded by a dysfunctional and violent family. There are several others that I think could be candidates for film — Family Law, Echo, The Gasper — plus a number of stories from my three other short story collections (One of which is set for publication in the spring of 2026).
10. Which of your other novels would you like to see made into a film or TV Series?
My mystery novel Walt, about a grocery store janitor who uses discarded grocery lists to stalk unsuspecting women. It was briefly optioned for a feature film, but the option has expired. And The Glass Harmonica, an episodic novel about the events going on along a single St. John’s street, told chapter by chapter through the different viewpoints of different homeowners.
11. Are there any novel/novella/short story/article (besides yours) that you would like to see adapted into a film or TV series?
Not that I can think of.
12. Have you ever considered writing a screenplay?
Not my skill set, I don’t think. I write as if I’m watching what’s happening, and it’s a very visual process, but I don’t think I’d be good at breaking those images into functional fragments or scenes.
13. What’s the best advice you have ever received about writing?
Always read everything you write out loud. It lets you capture errors in spelling, punctuation, pace and style.
14. If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?
I am painfully shy. The idea of my own talk show terrifies me. I would prefer that all three first guests cancel.
15. If you have the power to bring back an author from the dead, for one day, to meet with, who would that be?
I think John Cheever – mostly because he worked in the same part of the human mind that I find most fascinating. The part that drives why people do what they do, and how they can’t escape themselves, no matter how hard they try — and how much they want to.
16. Do you have any favorite quote or sentence from a novel you like or any novel in general?
Not that springs to mind.
17. What is the one thing you love most about Acadia University?
The campus, and the surroundings. It was, for me, the perfect place to become someone independent as an adult, without being rushed or pushed by my surroundings.
18. Last question, I’ll ask the same question I asked author Richard C. Morais about cooking: What has cooking taught you about life?
That there are recipes for a reason. That you can’t step into something and expect to be an expert until you’ve put in the time to develop knowledge and muscle memory and the understanding about what works and why. Also what doesn’t work — and why. And that, eventually, you’ll know enough to make something uniquely your own, but only on the shoulders of those who’ve come before you.
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