Rankin author wins prestigious writing contest
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Jan 17/01) - Karin Lowachee has won a prestigious science fiction writing contest.
Lowachee, a literacy and technology instructor at the Rankin Inlet Community Learning Centre, was recently named the winner of the Warner Books' Warner Aspect Novel Contest.
There were about 1,000 contest entries worldwide.
Lowachee's book, Warchild, will be published by the company and is scheduled for release in February 2002.
Lowachee, 27, says the book is more than 600 pages, but will probably be cut during the editing process.
Warchild, which is about a traumatized young orphan who is caught between opposing sides in a war, took her a year to write. The events take place in the year 2190.
"I will receive an advance in publication for the book and, although there are no guaranteed contracts, at least my foot is in the door with the publishing firm," says Lowachee.
"This was the first novel I completed, although I did have a short story in science fiction published in 1994 in an Alberta-based magazine called On Spec."
Lowachee was born in Guyana, South America, but moved to Canada when she was two, spending her childhood in Ontario.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing from Ontario's York University.
"I've been writing since I was about four years old, so I think it's safe to say I've been writing for most of my life," she says. "It's always been my ambition to do this."
Lowachee's writing has been influenced by authors such as Guy Gavriel Kay, C.J. Cherryh and Maureen F. McHugh.
She moved to Rankin Inlet when she finished her novel.
"Like any of the arts, writing is very risky, so I wanted to keep busy and do something while I waited for the results. I wasn't going to bank my future on one book. Then this opportunity came up and I wanted to come here.
"I've never been in this position before, so my immediate plans are to remain teaching here at the learning centre and see where all this goes."
