Prince Albert campus inspires dreams of young writers

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The Saskatchewan Indian Federated College hosted a conference at its northern campus for young Aboriginal writers who wanted to learn from experienced professionals.

The two days of workshops, held on Nov. 1 and 2, were attended by about 200 aspiring writers, teachers, chaperones and trainees. The writers brought in to lead the workshops were from various backgrounds and disciplines.

"It was a pretty good turn out," said Brenda Rocheleau of the SIFC. "We were quite surprised."

The Prince Albert campus was chosen because it was the most centrally located. Almost all of the participants were from Saskatchewan, with some coming from Manitoba and Alberta.

"Some of them were students with SIFC," said Rocheleau.

"A lot of the kids cam from the north," said Gail Bowen, an instructor with SIFC, a mystery novelist and workshop leader. "The northern kids don't get the same kind of exposure to these kinds of workshops."

The workshops focused on creative writing in all forms.

Workshop leaders included Joanne Arnott, poet and author of Wiles of Girlhood and Breasting the Waves., Wesley Fine Day, who is a traditional storyteller and has a story in the anthology, Achimoona. There was also Don Freed, who is a storyteller, songwriter and an active member of the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild. Louise Halfe was another workshop leader, and she is the author of Bear Bones & Feathers, a collection of poetry.

Other workshop leaders included Lloyd Martel, a screenwriter and producer; Ruby Slipperjack, an author; Richard Wagamese, author and newspaper columnist; Jordan Wheeler, screenwriter and novelist.

The workshops were set up so that they would have 15 to 20 people in each one.

"The big thing was more than just meeting professional writers, but that they were in a room full of other kids that were doning the same thing," said Bowen.

It was very encouraging for her, as a writer, to see this kind of enthusiastic response, she said.

Bowen Spoke about the difficulty of trying to teach Aboriginal literature 20 years ago when there was very little written by Aboriginal people.

It was impressed upon these young writers that they have a responsibility to their communities to produce literature from their own points of view. Future generations will need a basis for which to identify themselves and that identify will be determined through literature.

To stress this point, Bowen used an analogy from Margaret Atwood about looking in a mirror and not seeing your own face.

"What happens when you don't' have your own (Aboriginal) literature is that no Aboriginal kid will find their own experience in literature," she said.

"It was really important (for the Aboriginal teens) to see someone in the front of the room who looks like (them) and is doing something that (they) like to do," said Bowen.

Bowen hopes that the enthusiastic responses to these two days of workshop swill push the SIFC towards establishing a creative writing program. Up until now, the SIFC has only offered isolated creative writing classes for credit.