By Victor Malarek
An Evening with Victor Malarek
Summary by Karen Yarmol-Franko
Rozmova Book Club hosted investigative journalist and author, Victor Malarek, to discuss his latest title, Wheatshaft. Victor Malarek drew from his experience as an investigative journalist with CTV’s W5 and CBC’s The Fifth Estate to write the novel, inventing characters and plotlines that are reminiscent of headlines from our daily news.
Here are some highlights from our discussion.
Rozmova: How did Victor come to write Wheatshaft?
A woman came to see Victor when he was reporting for CBC’s The Fifth Estate. The woman’s son, an international development worker, had committed suicide. He had blown his head off. His mother said she knew her son would never have taken his life, and that he had told her some stories about corruption within the aid agencies he was working for. Victor had seen photos of the gruesome “suicide” and consulted with a forensics expert as he had suspicions the young man’s mother was right. The forensics expert confirmed that there were no burn marks from the gun and the spatter indicated it was murder, not suicide. This story – along with Victor’s deep experience in seven war zones, his suspicions about corruption and misuse of funds in global aid agencies and the UN, and his loathing of russian oligarchs – all became pieces of the plotline of Wheatshaft.
Rozmova: How much of Matt Kozar’s character is based on Victor?
Victor admitted that Matt is based closely on his own life and experience as an investigative journalist. From a difficult childhood in foster care with a father suffering from PTSD, the deprivation of his connection to his Ukrainian roots, and a hard life that prepared him to take on bullies, Matt and Victor bear a remarkable resemblance. They also share a deep commitment to social justice.
Even Victor’s investigative methods for convincing people to reveal what they know are brought into Wheatshaft. Victor said that he’s often asked by journalism students how to get the information. “You need to have a burn in your gut to dig in and demand answers,” he said. “Journalists generally don’t chase far or deep enough. They don’t ask the hard questions. To go after bullies and stories, you can’t be afraid.”
Rozmova: Are the organizations and people you name in the book based on real life organizations and the people who run them? For example, Global Crusade and its powerful evangelical minister, Lionel Power; the repugnant US Republican Senator Caine; the unscrupulous head of the UN International Food Fund, Gebran Kamra; and the ruthless russian oligarchs, Ivan and Sergei Melekov?
Victor said that Lionel Powers of Global Crusade is an amalgam of people in power in the international development field. Similarly, the depiction of russian oligarchs is drawn from his research on how they operate and carry out their menacing missions.
Rozmova: Is the newsroom environment an accurate depiction of your experience there?
The newsroom has changed with social media taking over and actual newsrooms being reduced to a skeleton staff. In Wheatshaft, Victor describes the newsroom he experienced where you had to take editors and bureau chiefs on and where sabotaging other journalists’ stories was commonplace. He said that some colleagues had your back while others were competing for the story.
Rozmova: As a writer, how did you move from investigative journalism where you must stick strictly to facts, to fiction where your imagination can take over?
Moving from investigative journalism to fiction is an easy transition for Victor. He draws upon truthful themes and embellishes the story while being free from the legal scrutiny required in all investigative documentaries. Victor admitted, however, that his editor, Sonia Holiad, told him to remove some parts from the first draft. After another read through, he agreed those passages didn’t add to the story.
Rozmova: What is your writing process?
Victor said, “Writing is an organic process. It just happens.” He said he didn’t attend any fiction-writing workshops, rather “the ideas come and I ask myself, ‘How can I unfold this?’” He has a notepad by his bed and he jots down ideas as they come to him. He sets out plotlines – A , B, C – and crafts each of them into a beginning, middle and end. He focuses heads down on just writing the book and then he goes back to the beginning to ensure all the plots and characters flow logically. He said it’s difficult to write about things you haven’t experienced so he draws heavily on his more than 325 investigative documentaries and the thousands of people he has met to tell a convincing story. “You have to be disciplined to write a book,” he says. “Concentrate on what you have to do and write like you have a deadline.” When he’s in the midst of writing, he’ll sometimes work from 10 am to 6 pm. Most of all, he says, “You have to have a dedication to want to do it.”
The evening closed with Rozmova wishing Victor a very happy birthday. We look forward to reading his new book where Matt will discover his roots and reveal more corruption based on current events in our world today.
Victor Malarek donates all proceeds from the sale of Wheatshaft to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
