Winning an Award

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!

About Gwynne Hunt gwynne1@telus.net

I am a writer, activist, producer, director and creative performance artist. My new book Through My Lens is based on newspaper clippings going back to 1928; the stories in-between the clippings are about my mom Gunvor Berglund, my step-dad Ronald Robinson and my DNA father Harold Larsen. How did they come together to make me? Some of the research was shocking, some funny but it left me to define the parts of the story I did not know. a tribute to my three parents. My last book, Unlocking the Tin box is about my journey into trying to find our who I was, who my father was; a complicated con man and a carny. But he was more than that and the journey took me as far as doing DNA tests, digging through his old tin box and an examination of my own life. Published by Silver Bow Publishing, available from the Publisher, Amazon and the Author. Fifteen years ago, the book ‘Rampage; the pathology of an epidemic’ written by me was released at the International Celebration of Women in Abbotsford. The book is my personal journey over six years working on the book and the Memory March (a walk/vigil honouring over 4,000 missing and murdered women and children in Canada). It includes interviews with grassroots' workers she met. There are a lot of individual, concerned people who work to end violence against women. One of those women is Mary Billy, a writer and activist in Squamish. There are interviews, case stories and conversations with family member’s who have lost loved ones. The book is not about how we are going to end the violence but an examination of the problems, concerns and stereotypical thinking that keeps us trapped in a cycle of violence. Included are the names of 4,000 missing and murdered women and children that have been compiled for The List. Other books include bruises & bad haircuts (poetry) and Bob & Boo. (illustrated by my grandkids)
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