The true stories that inspired Lisa Moore’s latest novel Caught.

When journalist Mike Landry called Lisa Moore for an interview, he began by listing four names, and asking, “What do these names mean to you?” The award-winning author of Alligator and February paused and took a deep breath. Not one of the names appears in Caught, but their stories were more entwined with Moore’s fictional account of Newfoundland drug-running in the 1970s than even the author knew.

In this profile of Moore, fate, fortune, freedom and the little town of Ferryland, Newfoundland, come together to form a picture of Canada’s greatest writer at the peak of her form.

Originally published in Salon, New Brunswick’s home for fine art and culture in the Telegraph-Journal, Anansi Digital offers Red-Handed for the first time to a national audience.

Mike Landry is the arts and culture editor of the Telegraph-Journal, New Brunswick’s provincial daily newspaper. His writing also appears in Quill & Quire and Visual Arts News. His work has been recognized by four times by the Atlantic Journalism Awards.      

Mike Landry's profile page