By meadowlakeNOW

Children’s book author inspired by young Saskatchewan writers

Jan 19, 2018 | 12:38 PM

A Western Canadian author, inspired by Meadow Lake writers among others across the province, features them in her latest children’s book.

Carol MacKay, who was born in Alberta but now lives in B.C., got her start writing as a member of the Young Cooperators (YC) club. The former section of the Western Producer featured the writings of young women from the ages of eight to 21. Youth from across Canada would send in riddles, stories, poems to the Saskatoon-based agriculture newspaper.

Her picture and story book, called Lily in the Loft, tells the tale of an eager young writer waiting to see her words in print.

“The club was such a huge part of young people’s lives,” she said. “So many writers from Saskatchewan had their first words published in those pages. The book is really based on the collective experience of members of the club.”

She said even though it’s a fictional story, her research and discoveries about real life members led to her learn more about people from all across the province, and some folks from the Meadow Lake region stood out to her.

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“When I was doing research for the book, I found quite a few from [that] area,” she said. “One of the more prolific writers was Adaline Moberg. She used the pen name Prairie Queen in the 1940s, and she was the senior poet laurate in 1943.”

MacKay said singing siblings from the areas, the Cockrum sisters, also were quite active during the 1970s.

“They wrote at the same time I did,” she said. “I think Laura [Cockrum] had 50 publications in the paper.”

MacKay said her writing process led her down an interesting path, as she originally thought she was going to write a non-fiction book showcasing members.

“It was just one of those books I had to write,” she said. “Ultimately I thought because it was about a club for children, it should be a book for children.”

She hopes to visit Saskatchewan libraries and schools in the coming months.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath