Author Robin van Eck on her first published novel ‘Rough’

By: Priya Migneault

On November 7th, 2020, Robin van Eck released her first novel ‘Rough’ with Stonehouse Publishing, on their live virtual book launch. The launch was a huge success; the other authors featured in the launch included Anna Marie Sewell, Danika Stone, Sabrina Uswak, and EB Frank.

After the launch, I had the incredible opportunity to interview Calgarian author Robin van Eck on her novel based in Calgary during the 2013 flood.
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Robin was born and raised in British Columbia. She moved to Calgary in 2000 and started classes with the Alexandra Writing Center (AWC) in 2003 as a student. Currently, she is the executive director for the Alexandra Writers' Centre Society (AWCS). Robin is a mother, author, and proud Calgarian. She decided to stay in Calgary because of its extensive and inclusive writing community and because of the people. 

Her novel ‘Rough’ is based in Calgary, Alberta, during the 2013 floods. The story begins when the main character, Shermeto, lands himself in the hospital after a bar fight. As he is in recovery, the city is in the midst of a natural disaster and his community, who is already displaced, becomes even more vulnerable. Shermeto’s daughter, Kendra, visits him in the hospital and brings him face-to-face with a part of his past he is trying to hide from. 

Robin wrote ‘Rough’ as a kind of love letter to Calgary. “The intent was to write a story that’s engaging and interesting, but also had a really valuable message,” says Robin, “For me, the message was, as a community it is so easy for us to come together, to help our displaced friends who lost their homes during the flood. But it’s so easy to forget about the people that need that help all the time. It is community that is going to fix homelessness.” 
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The novel's idea came after the flood when Robin was grabbing coffee and discussing homelessness with a friend in early 2015. Throughout the flood and afterwards, she could not forget that homeless people are always displaced and had the recurring image of people evacuating the drop-in center and crossing the Center Street Bridge. These thoughts inspired her to write ‘Rough’ and make the main character, Shermeto, homeless. As soon as Robin got home, she started writing the novel and worked on it until its release in 2020. Her personal experience inspired parts of the novel.

In 2019 the novel was accepted by Stonehouse, and because of their aligned views and passion, she decided to publish with them. “I had a conversation with Stonehouse about homelessness and (because of) how passionate they were about it (....) I really felt like they were the right publisher,” says Robin. 

The food and drink pairing with this novel is mac’n’cheese and pinot noir. In the novel, there’s a scene where Kendra makes Shermeto mac’n’cheese, but before they can enjoy it together, he leaves. Robin chose to make pinot noir the drink pairing because ‘wine is just good’.
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​For those looking to pursue a career in writing, Robin says, “Be patient. Learn how to write and write well, and be really patient when you’re trying to get published because it’s hard.” Robin sent her manuscript for ‘Rough’ to multiple publishing houses before being accepted. 

You can find ‘Rough’ online at Amazon and Indigo. However, she highly recommends trying to find it at your local bookstore first or ordering directly through Stonehouse Publishing.