Emily Urquhart, Artsci鈥99, landed her first job at a summer camp. An introvert by nature, at camp she was able to hone the observation skills needed for compelling writing as well as develop confidence to speak in public, something that comes in handy on book tours. This summer, she went back to camp to lead a braille creative writing workshop at CNIB Lake Joe, a summer camp for visually impaired children. Her most recent book, Ordinary Wonder Tales, made the shortlist for the . When she鈥檚 not at camp or writing, she teaches creative writing and science communication at the University of Waterloo.
I started working at Camp Waabanaki, a YMCA camp near Huntsville, Ont., when I was 15. I did every job they had there. I was still working at camp when I was studying at Queen鈥檚, and it wasn鈥檛 until the summer between second and third year that I stopped. I鈥檝e never considered my camp experience as having any influence on my writing, but of course it has, and it actually makes its way into some of the stories that I鈥檝e written. It all became fodder for future writing: The observation of other people, interpersonal conversations, even all the stuff that you have to deal with on a 24-hour basis because you鈥檙e living with people.
I鈥檓 quite an introvert, so I look back on that time 鈥 and it was really my favourite, most special time of my life 鈥 but I do wonder how I got through it. I distanced myself sometimes and was more of an observer because that鈥檚 a more comfortable role for me to be in anyway. Certainly, summer camp was where I first became confident speaking in front of a crowd, which I have to do as a writer and a teacher and is not something that I relish.
As a teenager, it gives you this huge responsibility and I think, when it came to university, it鈥檚 partly why I had no problem moving out on my own and spending time away from my parents. I also was never homesick, and I think that was largely in part from having lived all those summers at camp. And it鈥檚 funny, I don鈥檛 remember reading to the kids, but I read the whole time I was at camp: I have never in my life 鈥 no matter what鈥檚 happening 鈥 ever, ever, ever been without a book. I just can鈥檛 imagine it when people say, 鈥淥h, I haven鈥檛 been reading lately,鈥 because I just think it鈥檚 like they鈥檙e saying they haven鈥檛 been breathing.
And now it鈥檚 gone full circle, because I was asked to run a braille creative writing workshop in August at for kids between the ages of six and 18. I drew a lot on my experiences as a camp counsellor from when I was a teenager, and even more so than my work right now teaching creative writing. My daughter is visually impaired, but my son isn鈥檛, and what鈥檚 lovely about CNIB Lake Joe is that, for its children鈥檚 programming, they include the siblings of the visually impaired kids. You鈥檙e growing these advocates and allies and it really gives the fully sighted kids a much better understanding of their siblings鈥 lives and their siblings鈥 social lives, too.
