A literary event in North Delta this weekend will focus on the art of the memoir, and the healing that can come from telling one’s story.
On May 28, the Delta Literary Arts Society (DLAS) and the City of Delta are hosting the second installment of InkWellTold, a bi-monthly “reading in conversation” series at the new North Delta Centre for the Arts. This topic for this month talk is “Memoirs: Telling our Stories.”
“It’s been said that when you look at a person, any person, they have a story to tell. Deeply personal, sometimes tormented and troubled, memoirs are humanity’s stories,” reads a promo for the event.
Authors JJ Lee and Lenore Rattray sharing how their lives have influenced their writing, with each of them at different places in their personal storytelling.
“I’m looking forward to conversations about why people write about their lives and more specifically, how that writing leads to healing,” DLAS board member Kimberly Lawton, who will host this month’s InkWellTold, said in a press release.
Lee’s memoir, The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son and a Suit, weaves together the story about a troubled father-and-son relationship and what it means to be a man through an unexpected history of men’s fashion while moving towards forgiveness.
Lee has been a finalist for numerous awards including the Governor Generals’ Award for non-fiction. He mentors and instructs in creative non-fiction at The Writer’s Studio program at SFU and also sits on the board of the Surrey International Writers Conference.
In 1992, Rattray was robbed and kidnapped at gunpoint, disappearing for nine days. Using the resulting trauma, she became an influential advocate for mental health awareness. Since then, she has worked in communications, public relations and roles of service to others.
She is currently writing her memoir and for the first time will be publicly sharing her story of rock bottoms and great successes finding freedom and healing through writing.
“The experiences being shared will be troubling and disturbing, but will come with a great deal of hope and understanding of the freedom and release that comes from writing your personal story,” the promo states.
Admission to May’s InkWellTold is free, and the event will run from 7 to 9 p.m.
Incorporated in September 2021, Delta Literary Arts Society is a not-for-profit society with an ambitious mandate to promote the literary arts in all three of Delta’s communities.
For more on the Delta Literary Arts Society, visit dlas.ca or follow them on social media (@deltaliteraryartssociety on Facebook and Instagram).
editor@northdeltareporter.com
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