“Writing with a purpose” is the theme of Delta Literary Arts Society’s next InkWellTold event.
The bi-monthly “reading in conversation” series, held in partnership with the City of Delta, features two authors reading and discussing their work, followed by a question-and-answer session with audience members.
The fourth installment in the series, happening on Saturday, Nov. 26, will feature writer/instructor Taslim Jaffer and advocate/author Daniel Pearse speaking with host Kim Lawton on the drive to write personal stories for healing, discovery and a political/social mission.
According to a bio posted to the DLAS Facebook page, Taslim Jaffer is a writer, editor and writing instructor with a special interest in culture, identity and home who has taught memoir and expressive writing classes since 2015 in community and rehabilitative settings.
Inspired by family stories and the age-old question, “who am I?,” Jaffer’s bylines has appeared in Maclean’s, CBC, Huffington Post Canada, WestCoast Families, Peace Arch News and Unearth Women, among others.
Jaffer, who holds a master’s degree in creative non-fiction, lives in Surrey with her husband, three children and their dog and is working on her memoir-in-essays.
Joining Jaffer will be Daniel Pearse, author of Breaking the Cycle of Silence. Pearse is a sexual abuse survivor, and the abuse he suffered for nine years in a foster home run by a pedophile affected his life for decades afterward.
“Daniel buried the abuse in the far corners of his mind, only to have it surface at age 45, at which point he became aware of its effect on his life,” according to a bio posted to the DLAS Facebook page. “Since then, Daniel’s mission has been ending child sexual abuse.”
Pearse continues to petition Canadian lawmakers to adopt “Daniel’s Law,” child sexual abuse education legislation modelled after “Erin’s Law” in the United States, and hopes that one day, child sexual abuse prevention education will transcend beyond schools to reach parents, teachers, child service organizations,and any adults working or volunteering around children.
This month’s InkWellTold will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at the North Delta Centre for the Arts (11425 84th Ave.). Admission is free and the event is open to all ages.
Meantime, the Delta Literary Arts Society is calling for submission proposals for outdoor poetry installations for its second-annual Unbound Poetry Festival, set to take place on Saturday, April 10, 2023 at the North Delta Centre for the Arts.
Last year’s inaugural festival included an eclectic range of events including poetry-film screenings, workshops, readings-in-conversation, a Haiku contest, family poetry activities, one-on-one writing consultations, and a poetry slam contest.
The deadline to submit installation proposals is Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Submissions and/or questions can be sent to deltaliteraryartssociety@gmail.com.
A small honorarium will be provided for all installations accepted.
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.
To learn more about the society, become a member or volunteer, follow them on social media (@deltaliteraryartssociety on Facebook, @deltaliterary on Instagram and Twitter), visit dlas.ca or email deltaliteraryartssociety@gmail.com.
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