Editor's Note: Odette Auger is an occasional CKTZ News contributor. 

There is a new opportunity for young, Indigenous aspiring writers to level up their craft on Cortes Island. Local storyteller Odette Auger shared her experience in the Audible Indigenous Writers Circle program and is encouraging others to take part.

Auger participated in the six month program last year. She has always loved storytelling, carrying it through her academic experiences with art and film school, and later becoming a journalist. She currently reports for several publications including IndigiNews, The Watershed Sentinel, The Tyee, and APTN National News. But Auger had experienced hesitation in even acknowledging writing as a professional path.

“It was never encouraged. I think my parents didn't think it was a viable thing…I was the apple that fell far from the tree…it just wasn't fed. And at the same time, there's a lot of classism and racism in places I lived, in Northern Saskatchewan…So for better or worse storytelling sat on a back burner…undernourished," she said.

Auger began writing her first novel in the form of her application to the writers' circle: it was the inspiration for applying to the program last year.

“It was always germinating and bits and parts of it would come out either in paintings or like other projects, but it had never been really written. And so that was my first 2,000 words. I just sat there and wrote it out while the sun was coming up because the pounding waves were just so loud. So that was the birth of the novel,” she said.

The program is meant to help young writers throughout any step of their journey: from beginning to write a novel, like Auger, to finding a publisher and going through the editing process. She noted how valuable the peer support was last year.

“It was just really beautiful to see people sharing and just different things would come up. Like maybe I would have a question… it was the other writers who had the answers for me. They would say, I found it much easier to do this. I know. And you can absolutely fictionalize your biography, but you might want to question your intention. Who are you protecting and doing? Those types of things really matter.”

Auger said she is loaded with fresh tools from the program to continue working on her novel, as it is still in progress. The local writer urges anyone over the age of 18, with an Indigenous background, to consider applying to the program, as it is especially accessible to those in rural areas. Applications for the 2023 round are still being accepted until April 14.

To hear more about Odette Auger’s storytelling journey, listen to the CKTZ news update below: