A Q&A with Colleen Nelson
Posted on March 17 by Colleen Nelson in Teens
Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.
Teens
Category: Teens
Inspiration for a book comes from unexpected places, and from every era in an author’s life. I’ll share two parallel examples with you.
When I first had the idea to write Hawk, I knew I would have to go to the Oil Sands and see it with my own eyes. I'd done a lot of online research and had already decided that my protagonist would come from the remote First Nations Community of Fort Chipewyan, down-steam of the oil sands industry where according to Mr. Google there was a lot of sickness, including cancer, thought by some to be related to toxins from the industry.
I'm not a Gamer: A Reflection by Suzanne Sutherland
Posted on January 26 by Suzanne Sutherland in Teens
I'm not a gamer.
I was raised on an NES with a bootleg cartridge of more than three hundred games - most of which were glitchy beyond recognition, but several of which were actually playable. I spent hours mastering Tetris and my favourite side-scroller, Circus Troupe (which, upon further googling may have actually been called Circus Charlie on copies that weren't super illegal). I dabbled in Mario Brothers, Pac Man and (the unfortunately named) Pooyan.
But I'm not a gamer.
"For fifty years there has been no reading, writing, singing or reciting. The people have been made illiterate. What happens when a nation with a great cultural history is stripped of its achievements and must start out anew?..."
How did you come up with the idea for your work?
Throwaway Girl gives readers a glimpse into the harsh realities of the kids who end up in foster care. My educational background is in Psychology and Social Work, and I’ve always had a passion for working with the marginalized in our society, which has influenced my writing in many ways. I grew up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Saskatoon and I was surrounded by examples of people living in disadvantaged conditions. From a young age I recognized that other kids weren’t as fortunate as I was, especially from the standpoint of having a strong, supportive family life. Adolescence is a challenging time even when you come from a supportive situation where you are provided for. I wrote this book from the perspective of someone having to navigate through life without having had a healthy, solid base from which to draw support from. I wanted Throwaway Girl to shed light on what life is like for kids who feel like they have nothing.
Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work, and why you felt compelled to explore it.
There are many interweaving themes within Since You’ve Been Gone; however, the major theme is that of resilience. Both Edie and Jermaine, as well as many other characters in the novel, demonstrate an incredible amount of resilience in the face of racism, poverty, domestic violence, and other forms of prejudice. It is a reminder of just how damaging and marginalizing assumptions can be. They often limit youth from reaching their full potential which is a tragedy for our entire society.
Pages
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4