Nicholas Ruddock: There Were a Lot of Surprises
In this interview, author Nicholas Ruddock shares what inspired his most recent book, what he hopes readers get out of it, and more.
Nicholas Ruddock is a writer and physician whose novels, short stories, and poetry for adults have won multiple prizes in Canada, the UK, and Ireland. His novel The Parabolist was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award in 2011. Most recently, in 2023, he has won the Nona Heaslip Prize from Exile Quarterly and been shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Award. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.
In this interview, Nicholas shares what inspired his most recent book, what he hopes readers get out of it, and more.
Name: Nicholas Ruddock
Literary agent: Martha Webb (CookeMcDermid)
Book title: Planet Earth
Publisher: House of Anansi
Release date: November 4, 2025
Genre/category: Short Stories
Previous titles: This is a Tiny Fragile Snake; Last Hummingbird West of Chile; Night Ambulance; How Loveta Got Her Baby; The Parabolist.
Elevator pitch for the book: International-award-winning short stories set in the time of planetary decline.
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What prompted you to write this book?
18 stories, 18 reasons, the common thread being love and solace in personal relationships.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Two years for the book, 10 years for the stories. No idea changes once the book was accepted by Anansi.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
No. The editing was smooth, gentle.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
There were a lot of surprises. None of the stories were wholly imagined in advance. They developed on their own, after the first sentence. This method lends itself to total surprise, but does require multiple pass-throughs afterwards.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Entertainment (the stories are far from boring) and a shared perspective on the dilemmas of current times.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Keep reading good writers. Keep writing, edit afterwards. Even one word can develop into a story.
