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Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Vol: 1 Issue: 13

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CNC students prepare for Chapbook awards

Tyler Clarke, The Cutbanks

CNC instructor Graham Pearce
made sure that his English 205
Creative Writing Poetry class has a
decent chance of winning an award
at this year’s upcoming Annual
Barry McKinnon Chapbook Awards
by having every student develop a
chapbook throughout the semester.
“T ighout the course they

de yped a theme of whatever's
going throughout their mind,” he
explained, adding that themes
have been around animals, hip
hop music, Russian travels and
various other things. “Everyone's is
different.”

Acting as a buzz generator, every
one of his 20 students created

20 copies of the chap book the
developed in order to put them

up for sale during a chapbook fair
and poetry reading on campus,
December 7. Last year, Pearce said
that two of his students received
awards at the Barry McKinnon
Chapbook Awards ceremony,
including runner up and third

place. Going up against university
students and long-term local area
poets, he said that this is quite the
accomplishment for students who
are mainly relatively new to poetry.
Di-“-7 the December 7 reading,

th ique talents of Pearce’s
English 205 class became clear,
making them prone to racking up

a few awards at this year’s Barry

McKinnon Chapbook Awards.

While all students had varying and
unique talents as writers, a few

stood out of the bunch. First to

stand out was CNC security guard
Wayne Hermanson. Although not a
student, Hermanson was invited to
read as an introduction to the event.
Going through a few humorous
rhyming poems and one longer

more insightful poem, Hermanson
set the evening’s tone of humour
and seriousness that would continue
throughout the rest of the readings.
Pop culture references ended up
being a large part of the evening,
with a number of students apparently
spending a lot of time submersed

in popular media. One of student
Brandon Raskob’s most memorable
pieces of poetry surrounded his
interpretation of Star Wars both
before and after his understanding of
science, with Raskob concluding that
the trilogy is a lot more enjoyable
with scientific ignorance.

One of student/poet Chris
Volgelsang’s pop culture poems
focused on actor Bruce Willis as

a religious experience. With Willis
always getting the terrorist, his never
being struck by the myriad of bullets
being shot at him, and always having
an awesome soundtrack, there’s
something magical about him,
according to Volgelsang. :

In addition to the humours pop
culture poems, a number of poets

focused on personal memories,

such as Maureen Massini, who read
a poem recalling being in the back
seat with her siblings on road trips

as a child. Fellow poet Jen Slater-
Brocke wrote about her new van,
relating it to the cooler, more hip cars
she drove when she was younger.
“The windows are still tinted, but
they know what's inside,” she read,
implying children.

The 4th Annual Barry McKinnon
Chapbook Awards and Prince
George Chapbook Fair is to take
place April 24 at 7:30 p.m. in CNC
room 1-306. i
Named after now retired CNC
English instructor Barry McKinnon,
the awards have become nationally
recognized, according to Pearce.
The guidelines for those interested

in submitting to the awards are

that chapbooks must be between 8
and 48 pages long, produced after
April 2008, with the poet residing in
Northern BC. Two copies are to be
sent to Pearce at — ,
English Program, CNC

3330 22nd Avenue

Prince George BC 7 |
V2N 1P8

The submission deadline is April 10.
The grand prize is $250 courtesy of
the UNBC Arts Council.

The April 24 event itself is free to the
public.

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