You could see it in the faces of the youth, Joy Joseph-McCullough says as she and the Welh Tima Kexwusem dance group got ready to open the inaugural Quest Writer’s Conference on Sunday. Earlier in the week, the Squamish Nation held an official Aboriginal Day celebration at Totem Hall. Standing side-by-side with elders, Stawamus Elementary School students delivered research projects on the residential school system.
“The elders were really impressed,” Joseph-McCullough says. “It was very moving.”
And now a similar inspirational moment was taking place. The dancers were there to welcome internationally known poet of the Mvskoke Creek Nation, Joy Harjo, to Squamish.
Aboriginal Day is changing, Joseph-McCullough explains. It’s transformed over the years from a day of reflection to a day that also shines a light on an exciting, bright future, she says. The day’s events build on tradition, an infusion of old and new, Welh Tima Kexwusem dancer Charlene Williams chimes in. This is evident as Harjo makes her way on stage – saxophone in hand. The PEN USA Literary Award winner for creative non-fiction kicked off the writer’s conference with her version of a traditional song. Her readings follow suit, flashing between scenes in the spirit world to the neon lights of New York’s Time Square. The respect for her culture and passion for writing flow in her words.
“We literally grew children with stories,” she says.
It was a “soulful” moment for the writer’s conference founder and director Jessamyn Smyth. Following in her grandfather’s footsteps – Ted Morrison, who for 25 years was the director of the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference – Smyth says she hopes the welcoming and Squamish’s mountainscape will help create a week filled with nurturing transformation.
“The ingredients are all here,” she says. “Now, we cook.”
Seven instructors, authors and poets, will lead the week-long event that runs until June 28. The international slew of writers include Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award winning author Rebecca Brown and New York Foundation for Arts Fellowship Award winner Oliver de la Paz. Public readings will be held Thursday and Saturday from 7:30 to 10 p.m. For more information visit www.quest.ca and click on the News and Events tab.
