Learning the write way

Author Alice Kuipers had to learn the hard way how to deal with rejection.

In fact, she has accumulated many rejection letters over the years.

“If I could talk to my teen self and say, ‘You know what? This is actually going to be something you’re doing. You’re going to be able to make your living as a writer,’ I would give myself a little hint: It’s hard work in terms of there’s a lot of rejection,” she said.

A decade after starting to write seriously, she had her first book published in 2007 with her young adult (YA) novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door. Since then, the award-winning author has published four other YA novels, two picture books and she has a chapter book set for release next year.

“Sometimes people don’t like what you do. People aren’t always interested in what you’re doing. Letting go of all of that and just doing it is easy for me because I just love it,” said Kuipers. “I love writing, I love thinking about books, I love reading books, I love talking about writing and I feel really, really lucky to be

This summer, she’s set to come to Moose Jaw as one of 25 featured presenters for the 21st annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words. It will mark her second time at the festival.

“I really love the city. I really love the festival and talking about books and hanging out with other authors and meeting people who love to read books as much as I do. So I’m pretty excited,” she said.

“It’s set up in a really easygoing way yet the quality of the presentations are high and the quality of the work of the other writers is extremely high. So it’s just a really fun way to settle down and think about books as the summer’s really gearing up.”

Kuipers has some new reading material out herself. Her latest book, YA novel Me (and) Me was released earlier this year. The novel follows 17-year-old Lark who goes canoeing on a lake with her boyfriend. While there, a little girl Lark used to babysit is drowning in the nearby reeds. Lark and her boyfriend dive in to go save her, but her boyfriend hits his head on a rock in the water. With the little girl and her boyfriend drowning and with no time to save both, Lark must choose which one to save. When she does, her world splits into two distinct lives and she must live with the consequences of both choices. Lark then is faced with a choice: Which life is the right one?

Kuipers said some ideas for that book actually started swimming in her mind 20 years ago, but at the time, she didn’t know how to write it. So she shelved the idea and revisited it a few years ago when suddenly the character of Lark came into her mind.

“I realized it was a book about a young woman who has to make a choice and she doesn’t know how to and because she doesn’t know how to, she splits into two lives,” she said. “Well it’s a complicated story to write so I had to spend years, really, figuring out the best way to tell it, but for me, that figuring out is really interesting. That moving around of sentences, that thinking about how to make a story come alive on a page, that really thrills me.”

The 2017 Saskatchewan Festival of Words will take place from July 13 to 16 at various locations in the city – Common Café and Bakery, Mosaic Place, the Moose Jaw Public Library, St. Andrew’s Church and the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre.

Kuipers to help with Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience in Moose Jaw

In the week leading up to the Festival of Words, teenagers will have a chance to participate in a five-day creative writing workshop with a professional author through Sage Hill Writing.

Sage Hill, a non-profit organization, will offer a free workshop this year in Moose Jaw, Regina, Swift Current, Prince Albert and Saskatoon to encourage the “growth and development of young writers who want to connect with the writing community and learn about writing as a craft and a profession,” said a release. It is open to teens between the ages of 14 and 18.

Moose Jaw’s dates are set for July 10 to 14 at the Moose Jaw Public Library. The instructor this year is Katherine Lawrence and Alice Kuipers is the guest author.

Kuipers has taught the workshop three times in Saskatoon, however this will be the first time she’s been involved in the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience in Moose Jaw.

“I am excited to see what she wants me to do with the teenagers. She’s mentioned she’d like me to focus on thinking about language and how we use it. It’s obviously an interest of hers, as a poet,” she said. “I’m looking forward to meeting teen writers. That’s one of my favourite things to do.”

Kuipers said she wanted to write as a teenager.

“I didn’t even really know where to start. So these teenagers are way ahead of where I was. They’re meeting writers. They’re writing. They’re not just spending their summer letting it drift by. They’re getting their words on their page,” she said. “I’m excited to connect with teenagers who love words as much as I do.”