Who said winning doesn’t matter? Well, I did, five minutes before I won. I went to the Arty Awards (sponsored by the Abbotsford Art’s Council) on Saturday night and didn’t think I would win a Literary Award because 3 years ago I won the Outstanding Instructor Award–really, I didn’t think I could win twice but I am glad I did.
The Literary Award means a lot to me-all the years of writing, teaching writing, working at being a writer . . . feels like an award well-deserved to me. I pretended I was sick for 3 weeks when I was 14 and stayed home from school to write my first novel. Over the next almost 50 years I have been a working writer; editor, publisher, freelance writer, journalist, playwright, poet.
I have taught children, youth, people with brain injuries . . . and I have promoted, mentored and been a writer all of my life. When they called my name I felt very proud. The three years I spent working on my book Rampage;the pathology of an epidemic were the hardest writing years of my life. Who said winning doesn’t matter . . . it does!
After we published my book; we published my husband Dave’s book of poetry Knee-Slapper and my poetry collection bruises and bad haircuts. We have three viable and interesting literary works that will look great in our new art’s centre in Port Alberni . . . can’t wait to get there, can’t wait to move on. It feels like creatively I have gone as far as I can in the Fraser Valley. But wait . . . don’t write me off yet (that is what you do to writers, kill them with cliches like write me off)–we are producing The Vagina Monologues one more time (shows number 19/20) March 24th and doing the Memory March on the 25th in Abbotsford and I am sure there is a lot more to come whether we move by next May or not.
That is one of the wonderful things about being a writer—it doesn’t matter how old you are, it is never too late to start and you don’t have to retire. Metaphors be with you!
-
Recent Posts
- Reviews from goodreads.ca
- Review of Through My Lens
- Coming Soon!
- Review of Unlocking the Tin Box
- Through My Lens takes a look back through the depression, the second world war and into the eighties by examining newspaper accounts. Gwynne has woven a fictional story linking the newspaper clippings together. There was an unsettling past, she knew that, what she did not know was the shocking stories that she would find through her research. Her stepfather who she grew up believing was her real father was a murder suspect, a drug dealer, a vagrant and a thief. In 1947 the largest drug deal to ever hit the West Coast involved her stepfather, his wife and stepson. In later years his ex-wife was called the Big Boss of Powell Street. Everyone knew Marie Robinson. Through family accounts and detailed written stories, she found out her real father was from Standard, Alberta. Her father had Great-Uncles; one who was a famous artist and one who was a world traveler and explorer bringing back rare seeds from Russia and China. Her mother had always told her to be ‘careful what you wish for’, she should have reminded her that she might not like what she found. Her mother rebelled from a strict upbringing and religion and after the loss of seven children went down a path that led her to alcoholism. Somehow the three of them; her mother Gunvor, her stepfather Ron and her real father Harold stumbled together. It is a true story with lots of fictional accounts. Gwynne Hunt THROUGH MY LENS Silver Bow Publishing $23.95, on amazon or it can be purchased through Gwynne at gwynne1@telus.net $24 plus shipping
Recent Comments
jetnewbie on Review of Through My Lens Archives
Categories
Meta
gwynnehunt 