Westlock Library is housing its first Writer-in-Residence.
Once a week for the next six months, Alisha Jordan will offer her feedback to amateur and experienced writers on their work and answer questions about navigating the publishing world.
The Fawcett resident has written editorial pieces, academic book reviews, manuscripts and short story anthologies.
“I’m a diverse writer so I can help the community with anything they’re looking for, whether it’s academic, fiction or non-fiction, anything they’re publishing. Sometimes it’s hard for new writers to get out there,” she said.
Jordan will be at the library every Thursday in April from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and every Wednesday from May onward from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Writers looking for advice should e-mail five to 10 pages of their work at least 48 hours before a scheduled meeting.
“It’s not my first time helping people write but it is my first time having an official presence somewhere doing it,” she said at her first meet and greet April 20.
“I’m an introverted person so just even coming out here, I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone.”
The position is brand new to the library. Director of Libraries Doug Whistance-Smith said they had considered the program in the past, but budget constraints put that idea to rest.
So when Jordan approached the library and volunteered to do it, the library took her up on the offer.
“It’s a program that’s popular in the city so I inquired if they had one here and they didn’t so I thought, ‘Well, why not set something up,’” she recalled. “It’s neat that’s it’s all happening because we’re able to set a foundation for future writers.”
Writing, she said, has always been natural for her. From a young age her teachers would publish little books for her. By junior high she was writing college essays.
Yet for a long time it was always recreational.
It wasn’t until her mom passed away that she realized it was time to pursue her passion.
“I had that profound awakening, like, ‘Why am I not pursuing my passion? What legacy am I leaving behind?’ so I just decided to start and it came naturally. Everything fell into place. I feel very fortunate.”
In 2015, she published Fiona’s Fight, a biography about a woman with malignant Multiple Sclerosis who had a hematopoietic stem-cell treatment that halted her disease. The book is available at the library.
During her residency she will be finishing up a short story horror anthology as well as a memoir about a Wainwright Master Warrant Officer’s 2008 and 2011 tours to Afghanistan.
“I like to think I have a more of an empathetic view so I don’t find it hard to put myself in their position, but I actually find it really intriguing,” she said.
“It’s a really unique learning experience when you’re writing for other people too. I have completely opposing views when it comes to war, which is why I was surprised to take on the project, but I’m actually leaning a lot and it’s helped me be not as ignorant to circumstances of our soldiers in war.”
Over the next six months, Jordan also plans on hosting creative writing workshops for kids and adults and editing and biography-writing workshops, but of course she would like feedback from the community about what they’re interested in.
“I’m hoping to meet other writers in the community and perhaps establish a group to meet other writers and be able to share our work because that’s something I haven’t really seen out in these parts,” she said.
