Twenty Questions with Shana Myara

Meet Vancouver writer and Director of Festival Programming at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, Shana Myara.

Vancouver’s second largest film festival, movie screens across the city turn a shade of pink each summer with the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. As Director of Festival Programming, Shana Myara helps shape the annual festival that showcases films for and about the LGBTQ+ community. The 2015 Vancouver Queer Film Festival runs August 13-23. Visit https://queerfilmfestival.ca for more information

Meet Shana Myara

Shana Myara is a writer whose work has been featured in the Journey Prize Stories: The Best in New Canadian Writing, Coming Attractions (edited by Mark Anthony Jarman) and awarded fiction prizes from PRISM international, Geist, subTerrain, and shortlisted twice for the CBC Short Story Prize. She is the Director of Festival Programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

20 Questions with Shana Myara

1. Your first job.

Useless sales clerk in my mom’s wool store.

2. The job you always wanted as a child.

“Author”.

3. Your pet peeve.

Entitlement.

4. Your hero.

My mom. Also, Alice Munro.

5. Your biggest indulgence.

Renting in Vancouver!

6. One thing no one knows about you.

…and they still don’t.

7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.

My love. Good food. A ship.

8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.

Listener.

9. If you were not an actor/teacher, what would you be doing right now?

I’d be attending the VQFF as a patron! And writing more fiction!

10. Hero or villain.

Wannabe hero.

11. Your life’s motto/mantra.

Depth of knowledge over swift conclusions.

12. Your favourite movie?

Still, The Wizard of Oz.

13. The last movie you saw (that wasn’t part of the Queer Film Festival).

By the time people read this, hopefully, Magic Mike XXL. 🙂

14. If you were a cartoon character what cartoon character would you be and why?

From Hercules, the repetitive centaur, Newton. “Hey Herc! Hey Herc!”

15. What will it say on your grave marker?

I don’t think I’ll ever know!

16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?

Gustavo Souto Scofano, my favourite lesbro.

17. Your idea of happiness.

When minds meet, when there’s great food and great laughter. Remembering my dad’s corny jokes.

18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty year old self?

Yes, you are.

19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.

My writing life, so far. It’s the most challenging thing I do. High frustration factor, but immense rewards when it all seems to gel.

20. To be or not to be?

Totally, to be.