Red Deer’s Kimmy Beach doesn’t mix words when it comes to writing.
As the author of four collections of poetry and the current Writer in Residence for the Parkland Regional Library system, Beach says everybody has the ability to sit down, write and create nice images.
“But I also I don’t believe everybody is a writer,” said Beach. “In the same way that I don’t believe everybody is a brain surgeon.”
In January, the Parkland Regional Library system launched Literary Café with Kimmy Beach where Beach holds writing workshops in Central Alberta libraries including Alix, Sylvan Lake, Clive, Lacombe, Rimbey, Sundre and Hardisty until April.
“My workshops are more about nurturing the person rather than nurturing the writer or non-writer because it is something everybody feels they can do,” said Beach.
“They should be encouraged to (write) even if they never get published.”
Now in the second month of the program, Beach said the response has been great. Classes are mainly filled with women of all ages but there are the odd male-dominated classes.
She’s had an 80-year-old woman and even an eight-year-old student attend workshops.
“A lot of these libraries have never been visited by an author,” said Beach.
“Who goes to Hardisty for a reading? Some of these people have never been to an author reading. I have encountered this all over the place.”
The Introductory Writing Workshop is a popular class, says Beach.
On Saturday morning, she was in Alix with a class of 10 budding writers. By afternoon, she was teaching nine students in Sylvan Lake.
“People are always so shocked by what comes out of them,” said Beach.
“I make them write for quite a good portion of it. They are always amazed at what they can produce.”
Beach said new writers tend to be afraid of sharing their writing because they don’t think it is any good. She said it takes confidence for someone to step out of their comfort zone and present their work to a room of strangers.
“To me it’s about two and a half hours of nurturing them not necessarily as writers because they are not all writers and they know it,” said Beach.
“But as people because you know you deserve to be there and you deserve to put words down on paper.”
The writer-in-residence program is sponsored by the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Library Association of Alberta and the Canada Council for the Arts.
This is the second time Beach has been the writer-in-residence for the library. In 2008, she lead the Check Out the Writer program. Workshops are free of charge.
For more information on upcoming workshops visit www.prl.ab.ca.
Beach has a new poetry book coming out in 2013.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com