A capacity gathering at Sechelt’s Rockwood Pavilion on June 8 heralded the release of Coastal Voices, an annually published anthology that features work by young Sunshine Coast writers.
More than 800 submissions were received from poets, storytellers and essayists enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 12. For the first time since the series’ inception 13 years ago, the number of entries required publication in two separate printed volumes.
“Your voice is yours alone,” said Ann Skelcher, a trustee of School District 46, while addressing anthology contributors. “The power of your story helps to bring reflection, hope and even optimism to those fortunate enough to hear your words.”
Cultural ambassador of the shíshálh Nation, kway?imin Andy Johnson, welcomed students and families to the shíshálh swiya (homeland) and sang an honour song as tribute to the authors.
The Coastal Voices project is a joint effort of School District 46 and the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts. It was a brainchild of retired principal John Lussier, who is now president of the festival’s board of directors.
Lussier emceed the launch of the 2023 publication. “My goal, and I absolutely think it is going to happen,” said Lussier, “is that one day, when we come to the summer Festival of the Written Arts, there’ll be one of our [anthology] writers here.”
Entries were adjudicated by a four-member panel and typed by volunteers including Marisa Alps, artistic and executive director of the Festival of the Written Arts. Artworks adorning the covers were designed by two students: Alexis Glover, who attends Grade 7 at Halfmoon Bay Elementary, and Isabella White, a Grade 9 pupil at Elphinstone Secondary.
According to contributors, inspiration and technique were often shaped by classroom instruction. “This year in English,” said Asha Lui-Heneke, a Grade 11 student at Chatelech, “I’ve definitely been working a lot on making my sentences smooth and descriptive. It takes a lot of time, really thinking about it and repeating steps, to set down a good explanation.” Lui-Heneke authored a prose work reflecting on the struggles of Vancouver’s homeless population.
“I do a journal and sometimes I write about real things that happen — mostly in poetry,” said Jude O’Keefe, a Grade 1 student at Madeira Park Elementary. O’Keefe’s poem I Like Spiders uses alliterative effects (“Long-legged cellar spiders”) to express admiration for arthropods.
Flora Box, a Grade 11 Chatelech student, penned an autobiographical essay titled Sanctuary. “I wrote a personal piece about something I felt really mattered to me,” said Box. “I chose this show called The Owl House, because it’s not ashamed of being different. It’s aggressive and it’s passionate and it’s beautiful.”
Trevor Ward, a Grade 7 student at Gibsons Elementary and author of two works selected for Coastal Voices, observed that writer’s block is rare for Sunshine Coast residents. “It’s such a great place to grow up and learn,” he said. “There are quiet places everywhere, and beauty everywhere you look.”
“The Coast’s not bustling and crazy,” added Evy Fuller, a Grade 6 classmate of Ward. “And you have to figure out ways to entertain yourself.” For the anthology, Fuller penned a paean to her room. "My poem," Fuller mused, "contains little sprinkles of me." Fuller's friend Eleanor Rawkins also found inspiration in domesticity's creature comforts, writing that "My room / Holds my past / My future / My self."
Recordings of readings by Box, Fuller, Lui-Heneke, O’Keeffe, Rawkins and Ward of their respective works can be heard by browsing to michaelgurney.com/culture.
