Two students from Maple Ridge received honourable mentions in a prestigious literary contest.
Danica Custance, Grade 9, won for her poem Another’s Other and Harley McFarlane, Grade 12, for her poem called Whole in the 2019 Federation of British Columbia Writers Literary Writes contest. The pair won the awards in the young writer’s category judged by Renée Saklikar, poet laureate of the City of Surrey.
This years theme for the contest was Who is ‘The Other’ with one category for those 19-years and under and the other category for those 20-years and older.
Close to 60 poems were submitted from across the province.
“It was wonderful to see the wide range of approaches to the rich and complex theme of ‘The Other’,” said contest judge, Vancouver poet Fiona Tinwei Lam, who judged the 20 and older category.
“Each of the winning poems was moving and powerful in its own way, integrating narrative, vivid imagery and lyric intensity to explore the devastating impact of the past on the present,” she said.
Other winners included Fran Bourassa from North Vancouver for her poem called The Other and Lesley-Anne Evans from Kelowna for hers, What You Can Carry, in the adult category. Short-listed in that category were Derek Hanebury from Port Alberni for By Any Other Name and Chelsea Someau from New Westminster for The Other.
Other honourable mentions in the youth category were Ulricke Bucksteg-Neuhoff, a grade 10 student from Nanaimo, for her poem Who Is ‘The Other’? and Ayesha Pervez, a grade 12 student from Delta for her poem Men Of My Heritage.
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