Bookmark Interview: Annabel Lyon: The Golden Mean

In terms of Canadian literature, the year 2009 belonged in good measure to British Columbia’s Annabel Lyon. The 40-year-old author, teacher and mother of two published her first novel only to see the book ascend as one of the most acclaimed works of the year.

The Golden Mean won the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the 2009 Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. A book favorably compared to Robert Graves’ classic I, Claudius, The Golden Mean tells the story of two giants of classical Greece, the philosopher and scientist Aristotle and the teenaged student who came to be known as Alexander the Great.

Lyon, of Vancouver, recently delivered the fifth annual Henry Kreisel Lecture at the University of Alberta. Prior to the lecture, Lyon spoke with me about her life both during and after the writing of The Golden Mean. She says she doesn’t particularly feel the success of The Golden Mean looming over her sequel, which centres on Aristotle’s daughter. Lyon says her success with the first novel was a result of so many remarkably lucky confluences that it would be absurd to expect similar success on her sophomore attempt--and thus she feels no pressure.  You can hear our conversation by clicking on the Title of this Blog Entry, with Lyon opening by talking about how the phenomenal success of her debut novel has changed her life.