Seniors are being challenged to get their creative juices flowing in a local writing competition this spring.
Staff at the Okotoks Public Library are inviting Foothills seniors to submit poems, short stories and stories reminiscent of Canada in honour of the country’s 150th birthday. A similar challenge was held for seniors in 2015 with 21 entries.
“It’s to encourage older adults to share some of their stories and memories, put them down on paper,” said Lara Grunow, head librarian. “There are so many benefits to staying active with your mind and your memory. It’s really good for mental health and it’s good for helping to stave off dementia.”
The library received almost $8,000 from the New Horizons for Seniors Program last summer to support seniors’ writing.
“We applied for the grant because writing is a good way to encourage older members of the community to help share their memories so we don’t lose that personal history,” she said. “We want to be able to capture it and share it with the broader audience.”
The grant helped pay for approximately 10 writing-related events since last September, including author visitors and writing workshops.
Among them were presentations by Martin Parnell, a Cochrane-based public speaker, ultra marathon runner and multiple Guinness World Record holder, as well as award-winning author Tyler Trafford. Each event had anywhere from 15 to 20 seniors in attendance.
Grunow hopes even more seniors will show interest by submitting entries for the library’s writing challenge. Ten entries have been submitted so far.
“If we get enough entries and they’re good enough quality we will create a bound edition of the entries and hand that out to the winners as a prize or keepsake,” she said.
Entries must be submitted to the library on or before May 31. They will be judged by members of the Okotoks writing group Write Away!
Marius Oelschig said he enjoyed judging the 2015 seniors’ writing challenge.
“The writing was really good,” he recalls. “They were reminiscent, which were brilliant and some very good poetry as well.”
Oelschig understands the benefits of keeping one’s mind active in the senior years. The award-winning writer penned stories for his grandchildren about his life in South Africa for more than a decade before moving to Canada.
“I enjoy it very much,” he said. “It’s a way of remembering. We are not going to be around for very much longer and I think it’s an individual’s way of leaving some form of legacy because although individuals might not endure, books definitely do and will.”
When the board applied for the New Horizons for Seniors Program last year, Oelschig said it researched similar writing programs in Scandinavian countries.
“We found studies by the library and university that found that the action of writing not only stimulated the thoughts and creative thinking of seniors, but it also got them out,” she said. “The seniors were encouraged to attend the lectures at the library and, based on what they learned, they would submit their own writing.”
Oelschig expects the benefits would be similar no matter where seniors live.
“I think it’s a brilliant idea to get the elderly more involved in the community and express themselves,” he said. “It will do them a world of good to get their own inner thoughts on paper.”
The submissions will be judged in June and the winners announced at an awards ceremony at the library on July 6.
For more details or to read the winning entries this summer visit okotokslibrary.ca
