![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bernadettecalonego.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/BCalonego4-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n You have been in Canada for 16 years, what brought you here? Where does\nyour fascination for Canada come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart\nfrom being a writer, I am a foreign correspondent for European media. I came\nhere in 1996 for the first time to do a story on immigrants in Vancouver. Three\nyears later I traveled for three months in Western Canada and liked it so much\nthat I decided to settle here as a freelance journalist. What were the biggest challenges when you started to work here?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For most\nnewspapers in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Canada took a distant second\nplace behind the United States. When I suggested writing something about First\nNations in Canada for instance, I was told that First Nations in the U.S. would\ncome first. I had to find connections to Germany or Switzerland, to sell a story\nto the editors. If the drug policy was a hot topic in Switzerland, then the\neditor was more interested in Canada`s drug policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How is it nowadays to work as a correspondent and author? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nchallenges remain, but with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the\ninterest in Canadian politics has increased. And there are the\n\u201cperennials\u201d: Good stories about grizzly or polar bears, about Inuit,\nimmigrants, or important and interesting Canadian companies, or about\ndifferences between Americans and Canadians are regularly in demand. Because\nCanada is such a huge country, traveling is very expensive. Many newspapers\ndon`t pay for travel expenses anymore. I still travel but on my own dime.\nWriting novels is a luxury: Only when I have finished my daily journalistic\nwork, I can continue working on my novels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Three of your books play in Canada, from where do you get your\ninspiration? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I get my\nideas from my travels across Canada, places that I see, people that I meet, or\nwhat I hear and read. People who buy my books, can travel in the footsteps of\nmy heroines and find the locations that I have described. \u201cStormy Cove\u201d is set\nin Newfoundland, \u201cUnder Dark Waters\u201d in B.C. and in the Northwest Territories.\nI wrote \u201cDie Fremde auf dem Eis\u201d after a trip to the Arctic. It is important to\nme that the places in my books are authentic, and the people too, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the next big thing for you, do you have any upcoming plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A new\nbook will be published in Germany, it is again a mystery novel that is partly set\nin British Columbia and partly in Europe. I also hope that \u201cDie Fremde auf dem\nEis\u201d will be translated into English this year. In the meantime I have started\nmy next book. I also plan to travel again to the North which I love with a\npassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On May 10 you will have a reading at the Alpenclub, what are you going\nto present?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I thought\nthat instead of just reading from my books, I could show some pictures of the\nIce Road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and talk about my trip to the Polar\nSea. The winter road in Inuvik that has been built across the delta of the\nMackenzie River, is open this winter for the last time. It has been replaced by\nan overland road. For some people it might be interesting to see a legendary\nice road that will soon disappear forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is always in your suitcase when you come back from a trip to\nSwitzerland?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ohropax,\nFrigor chocolate, Basler L\u00e4ckerli, pudding powder mix, Euceta healing cream and\nCamillosan ointment. I would also take cervelats, B\u00fcndner dried meat, Migros\nyoghurt and Mohrenk\u00f6pfe with me if I could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Event Details:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Location:<\/strong> Alpenclub Vancouver
\nFrom the start, I have been fascinated by the beautiful and pristine\nlandscapes, the pioneer atmosphere and the friendly people. I live on the\nSunshine Coast near Vancouver but I spend a lot of time in Newfoundland, too,\nbecause my partner is from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bernadettecalonego.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0862-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bernadettecalonego.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_3464-Copy-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\nDate: <\/strong>Wednesday, May 10, 2017
\nTime:<\/strong>
\nAdmission:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n