|
February 27, 2009
Writing on doomsday
Dan Kalla will do a book reading on March 6.
RON FRIEDMAN
Dan Kalla is one of the rare Vancouverites who was actually born and raised in the city. Now living no more than two miles from the place he was born, Kalla divides his time between St. Paul Hospital's emergency room and his Kerrisdale home, where he writes his apocalyptic medical thrillers.
Kalla is the author of five novels, including Cold Plague (2008), Blood Lies (2007) and Pandemic (2005). He is currently waiting for the publication of his new book, Hospital, a multi-generational epic about a struggling nonprofit hospital in the United States. The book spans more than a hundred years, from the turn of the 20th century to the present.
Kalla will be reading before high school students and the public at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on March 6. In an interview with the Jewish Independent, Kalla said that he had not decided what book he would read from, but he hinted that he might read from a new book that is in the works. His reading will include something with a Jewish theme.
Kalla said that his Jewish education stopped at the age of 13. After his bar mitzvah, he had to concentrate on the studies that would take him on to the University of British Columbia, where he got his B.Sc. in mathematics and his medical degree.
Kalla's books describe medical phenomena that get out of control and reach global proportions. The mix of scientific detail and gripping storytelling has readers raving and film studios talking movie options.
"One of the things I love doing with my writing is raising awareness," said Kalla. "I try not to be an alarmist, although I've been accused of being a 'professional alarmist.' I try to be accurate and a little bit balanced. Obviously, these are fictional scenarios, so you need to up the stakes," said Kalla. "I don't see doom and gloom around every corner. But you have to be aware."
Kalla himself came face to face with a potential doomsday scenario in 2003, when he was put on the local SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) taskforce.
Kalla said that the medical disaster that he fears the most is the threat of deadly bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics. In his 2006 book Resistance, Kalla writes about a drug resistant "super-bug" that is intentionally dispersed by evil drug companies. But Kalla said it's a threat he deals with in real life in the emergency room, too. "Antibiotics we used to use 10 years ago are no longer effective in many of the conditions we treat."
In his books, Kalla attempts to add humanity to some of the homeless people he treats regularly. In one book, the main character is a man who comes to Vancouver and volunteers to work on the streets of the Downtown Eastside.
In December 2006, Kalla was featured in TV Week magazine's list of British Columbia's 10 most beautiful people.
Kalla said he works an eclectic schedule, but that his two jobs compliment each other. He has two daughters and is an active outdoorsman. He said that writing helps him unwind from his hospital shifts and that practising medicine is a good cure for writer's block.
^TOP
|
