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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 24, 2016 | 38 John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com Torp author says writing has been his entire life Meet Michael Mirolla at Oakville Chapters April 30 by John Bkila Oakville Beaver Staff Artscene "Connected to your Community" Whether it's politics, passion or mystery, Michael Mirolla's latest novel Torp has something for every reader, according to the Oakville author. Torp: The landlord, the husband, the wife, and the lover is set in October 1970's Vancouver, an auspicious time where the War Measures Act has been instituted and martial law has been declared across Canada. Giulio di Orio, an assistant lecturer in philosophy from Montreal, brings home one of his students -- who calls himself Torp -- to the Vancouver flat he shares with his wife Nicole. "He's a very shadowy character," Mirolla said of Torp. "He might be the one who is the ringleader of a terrorist group blowing up buildings in Vancouver as a protest to greed, materialism -- he's sort of an idealistic character." A torrid affair Torp becomes involved in a physical relationship with the Montreal couple, leading both husband and wife to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, the couple's landlord becomes convinced Torp is the devil incarnate and responsible for his wife's death. "When Torp mysteriously disappears, the couple is left to go at each other," said Mirolla. "They're angry at each other for Torp's disappearance and they can't seem to function without him." The 67-year-old author said he decided to tell a story set against the backdrop of martial law in 1970's Vancouver because he I was writing short stories and poems since I was in grade school. And then, when I went to high school, I was fortunate enough to have teachers who encouraged the writing and they let me do things like write fiction on a literature exam.... I started taking creative writing courses and then went to UBC for the Masters of Fine Arts program.... After that, I just started writing full-time for myself.... Michael Mirolla Oakville author At left, Oakville author Michael Mirolla is releasing his latest novel, Torp: The landlord, the husband, the wife, and the lover (book cover at right), April 1. The work of fiction takes place in Vancouver October 1970, a time when the War Measures Act had been instituted across Canada. | photo at left by Salvatore Mirolla, submitted photo of cover at right thought it was an interesting place to talk about the politics of the time without it becoming a heated political debate. April 1 release date The novel is set to be released Friday, April 1. Mirolla has been nominated for and won several awards, including the Bressani and Pushcart prizes, and Karen Solange Medal. He is also the editor-in-chief and publisher at Guernica Editions, a Canadian in- dependent publishing house. "It's been my entire life," Mirolla said of when he started writing. "I was writing short stories and poems since I was in grade school. And then, when I went to high school, I was fortunate enough to have teachers who encouraged the writing and they let me do things like write fiction on a literature exam." The Italian-born author grew up in Montreal and has been an Oakville resident since 2012. After attending McGill University for chemistry, physics and math, he soon realized it wasn't for him. "So, I switched over to English literature and that was it," he said. "I started taking creative writing courses and then went to UBC (University of British Columbia) for the Masters of Fine Arts program, the first to provide a masters in creative writing at the time," he continued. "After that, I just started writing full-time for myself, (while) I worked as a journalist for 20 years at the Montreal Star, then onto the Gazette for about 14 years. Then freelanced on my own." Mirolla has published about a dozen works in fiction, poetry, plays and short stories, such as the 2010 Bressani Prize-winning novel Berlin, The Giulio Metaphysics III, and the 2014 Bressani Prize-winning poetry collection The House on 14th Avenue. An author meet-and-greet with Mirolla is scheduled for April 30 at the Oakville Chapters at Dorval Crossing, 310 North Service Rd., from 1-4 p.m. Big Movies... small mall Prices! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville General: $8.50 children (3-13): $6.50 Seniors (65+): $6.50 tuesdays: $5.00 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @filmcacinemas Zootopia (G) March 4th the little prince (pG) March 11th the DiverGent SerieS: BatMan v. SuperMan: alleGiant (pG) Dawn of JuStice (Stc) March 18th March 25th My BiG fat t Greek weDDinG 2 (pG) March 25th