Editor:
We would like to take this opportunity to sing the praises of the director of the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Jane Davidson. For the past 10 years, Jane has been very supportive of the school libraries and the Coast Reads program. She has ensured that both elementary and secondary students have been introduced to children’s and young adult authors, as well as slam poets. This has been accomplished by funding from grants Jane has applied for and also by “passing the bucket” for donations for school programs at the Festival of the Written Arts. She has personally arranged for authors and poets to travel to the Sunshine Coast and has picked them up from the ferry and driven them to the schools from Pender Harbour all the way south to Langdale.
The students have been inspired by the author presentations and there is a great demand for books by the authors that have visited our schools. The performances and workshops that involved slam poets have infused the students with enthusiasm for the spoken word. In June a couple of years ago, Jane organized an all-day spoken word event at the Rockwood Pavilion, which included performances by students and visiting poets who had worked with students over a period of several months. It was “music to our ears” to hear students perform their work and to see how impressed the audience was with the quality of the students’ writing.
The late author Richard Wagamese was one of the writers Jane brought to visit the secondary schools. His book Indian Horse was one of the books chosen for the Coast Reads program three years ago. The high school students chose this book as their favourite of the choices of Coast Reads books for that year. Through her actions, Jane has exemplified what Richard Wagamese so eloquently expressed:
“When we take the time to share stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time.”
By promoting the sharing of stories in our schools, Jane Davidson has instilled in our students a greater appreciation of both the written and spoken word.
Laura Clarke, Irene Corbo, Michelle Dueck, Jennifer Goerzen, Oona Taggart, Cathy Calder, Teacher-Librarians, School District 46
