Fiona Tinwei Lam

Thanks to the Vancouver Writers Festival’s wonderful Writers in the Classroom program, I had a chance to visit Magee Secondary last Wednesday, accompanied by VWF’s Senior Education and Development Coordinator, Leena Desai.

Each of the twenty-six grade eleven students in Helen Kuk’s classroom used an ordinary object as a writing prompt. It was very cool to hear about the variety of objects that served as a lens or portal into their writing–a toy soldier, a candle, a toothbrush, a lucky red envelope (usually distributed to kids at Chinese New Year), a hoodie, a cell phone, a calligraphy brush, a cookie cutter, a shell, and more. A very creative group! Helen has told me about all the talent in the classroom too. I am really looking forward to reading the work generated by the classroom exercise!