Visiting Writer – Annabel Lyon
Award winning novelist Annabel Lyon visited Shawnigan to speak to senior students. Ms Lyon's most recent is The Golden Mean, the first-person account of a pivotal period in the life of Aristotle. The novel has garnered considerable attention in Canada, having been nominated for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, and winning the coveted Roger's Writers' Trust prize. As the Globe and Mail noted, "The Golden Mean is a crisply written, painstakingly researched book, [in which] Lyon ably inhabits 'the greatest mind of all time. . . .'" With American and international publication looming, the book is set to gather even more praise in the months ahead. During her Shawnigan visit, Ms Lyon proved to be a generous teacher and mentor to the students. Early in the day, she spoke with the AP English classes, providing background on the novel and setting Aristotle firmly in historical context. Students left her lecture energized by her passion for the subject, by the depth of her knowledge, and by her disarming sense of humour. After school, Ms Lyon hosted a fiction workshop for Writing 12 students and took them through an exercise designed to increase their sensitivity to language, characterization, and narrative energy. Her visit ended with a powerful evening reading.
– Jay Connolly