Big news! Have you heard? All the libraries in the Kootenays are banding together this fall to publish a teen newspaper: Kootenay Teen News.
We are looking to amplify all these amazing teen voices we have in our communities, while also connecting them with each other. We hope to provide some experience for their resume and hopefully a little joy too because it is fun to make things, right? Teens these days are far more civic minded and engaged with the world, and we want to hear their thoughts on all of it.
Kootenay Teen News needs all sorts of content creators: writers, pundits, reporters, photo-journalists, editors, interviewers, graphic designers. Curious, but don’t know how to do these things? We can teach you! And we can hook you up with real-life journalists to mentor you in the newspaper way. Do you have a great story idea? We would love to hear it and we can work with you to make it happen.
If you are interested in getting involved, or even if you just want to see what it is all about, the upcoming zoom workshop is essential: Local Journalism for Teens on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 10 a.m.
This workshop will be led by a journalist with years of experience. She’ll give an overview of how a newspaper is put together, and all the different roles needed. Teens can register by emailing Melodie Rae at mstorey@nelson.ca.
And teens, if newspapers aren’t your thing, there is still plenty going on at the Nelson Public library that might be just for you. The Kootenay Teen Book Club is returning for its second year. Last year we had a great time hanging out with famous authors. We found out that Kenneth Oppel’s own children have no interest in reading his books, and that Gordon Korman wrote his first novel because his teacher assigned him a book report and he didn’t want to read any of the books in his school library.
Susan Juby had the coolest, most arty looking headphones when we Zoomed with her, and Brittany Cavallaro got up in the middle of the night to talk to us in her pajamas. This year our fall lineup includes Susin Nielsen (No Fixed Address), Marthe Jocelyn (Aggie Morton Mystery Queen) and Kiku Hughes (Displacement).
The two mother-daughter book clubs are returning too: Mother-Daughter Book Club for older girls (ages 14-16) and Kootenay Girls for a younger crowd (ages 11-13). Keep in mind, these book clubs are open to all sorts of pairings – grandmas, aunties, neighbours, mentors, all are welcome.
We have free Learning Well Take Home boxes to get teens all geared up for their academic year. Inside the boxes are fun school supplies, study tips, stress balls, and more. The library also has an active Pen Pal Club. This past year we have had over 80 people matched up and about half of these are teens.
So all the news is good news in the teen department of the Nelson Public Library. We love our teens!
Melodie Rae Storey is the teen and literacy co-ordinator at the Nelson Public Library and was once a teen who would have loved to have been student reporter. Can you tell?
