Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 09/05) - Metis writer Bren Kolson is heading to Banff to attend the first Aboriginal Emerging Writers program. She is one of seven writers selected from almost 50 applicants across Canada.

Metis writer and poet Bren Kolson plans to attend the Aboriginal Emerging Writers Residency at the Banff Centre this fall.

"One of the main focuses I'd like to get out of the program is contact with other accomplished writers," she said. "There are not a lot of opportunities to talk with other published writers here."

The program is a joint initiative of the aboriginal arts program at the Banff Centre and the En'owkin Centre, a post-secondary institution in Penticton, B.C., focused on developing indigenous knowledge and creative arts.

Completion of the intensive curriculum qualifies as three credits toward a continuing education degree at the University of Victoria.

The two-week program involves two concentrated courses.

Kolson will explore the tradition of oratory while examining her own works of poetry and fiction. Writing assignments will cover traditional and contemporary formats.

Kolson knew she wanted to write since Grade 4, when she received praise for her first short story from a teacher who otherwise cut her no slack.

As a 13-year-old student in Fort Simpson, she won the John Tetso award for outstanding achievement presented by Molson Breweries. It was the first in a long list of honours that include the Louis St. Laurent Fellowship, presented to practising journalists by the Canadian Bar Association; a travel scholarship from the University of Saskatchewan English department, where she earned a double major in English and Native Studies; and writing grants from the NWT Arts Council and the Canada Council.

In 1987 she wrote the text for A Promise Fulfilled, a book on the territorial visit of Pope John Paul II for the GNWT department of Culture and Communications. She is working on four books of non-fiction, fiction and satire and has dozens of published and yet-to-be published poems. This fall she is consulting with a publisher to release a book of photos, sketches and writings on the barren lands.

"I'm really hoping that I will get something out of this program that I can apply to my writing," she said. "I'd like to bring back the information for emerging writers in Yellowknife. I'd like it to be a shared experience."