OUTLOOK - A group of writers in Outlook had a captive audience on Tuesday evening, June 4, who gathered to hear of their works and the inspiration and influence behind them.
Held at the Outlook Community Library, just over 20 people came out to hear from The Revisionists, a writers group in the community who were able to provide people with some insight on what inspires them to create worlds of fantasy and fiction, but also stories that come from facts and reality.
Tony Peter, Les Langager, Joan Soggie, Shelley Luedtke, Daryl Olson, and Kim Olson representing the works of the late Oliver Green were on hand to present samples of their work.
Olson read from her late dad Oliver's latest work that he was in the midst of putting the final touches on at the time of his passing earlier this year. Kim explained that her father wrote it as something of an apology to his family for not fully understanding or appreciating everything that had come from his wife's dementia diagnosis. With that, she reads an excerpt from his writing, described as a kids book, and shedding a few tears before she recited the words.
"We so appreciated Oliver as a member of our group," said Tony, addressing those gathered. "We so appreciated his insight and thoughts."
The Elbow-based Soggie, author of such books as 'Rikka', 'Prairie Grass' and 'Looking for Aiktow: Stories Behind the History of the Elbow of the South Saskatchewan River', told attendees of her appreciation for having such a writers group in the community before reading a passage from her story entitled 'One True Love'.
Olson, who admittedly isn't much of a fan of fiction as he enjoys exploring history, read some interesting family history and explained that he is in the midst of writing a historical novel based on such history.
Luedtke, who is currently working on her debut novel, talked a little bit about the backstory before reading a passage from her work. The story involves a young woman named Lexy, an only child who is sent to live with her grandmother as her mom decided to pursue a career as opposed to motherhood. Dealing with family losses from her life before she was even born, Lexy's story can perhaps be best described as a venture into adulthood and trying to answer questions surrounding personal identity and where we go as young adults in this world.
Langager, coming from the point of view of the crime and police world as his son Mark is the Outlook and area RCMP sergeant, published his book 'Wild Justice', which is a book for more mature readers as the themes and messages deal with some blunt and realistic truths faced in our society when it comes to the order of the law. Langager's inspiration for the book is also evident in the novel's artwork, as the cover was inspired by the official RCMP colors, and his son Mark's firearm is pictured on the back of the book. Langager read a passage from a new work that he hopes to complete now that he has joined the writing group.
Peter, who started writing at a young age, spoke of his book series 'The Crystals of Goern', involving kids who use their faith as part of their respective journeys and over the course of several novels, they grow into young adults. Tony also read from 'Landau: The Search for Paradise', as well as sampled some poetry that he had written for 'The Way It Was', a new book he'd written. One particular poem meant a lot to him, and so he read 'My Green Walk' to those gathered in the library.
All the authors mingled with the public following the event, answering questions about their work and enjoying some face time with their readers, whether they're current or future ones.
