Maylis De Kerangal explores memory, voice, and human connection in the story collection Canoes (Archipelago, Oct.). Canoes are one of many motifs that appear in all of these stories. What inspired this decision? Canoes can contain narrative. It’s a nod to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “carrier bag” of fiction. I see the canoe as a basket going through each part of my imagination and memories, collecting the stories.