Find Your Story Canada Teaches Students to be Storytellers
Image courtesy of Find Your Story Canada
When it comes to fulfilling their dreams of becoming writers, it can be difficult for youth to get a chance to develop their skills, especially if there are financial barriers. Find Your Story Canada (FYSC) was founded in April 2020 by Sherry Shu, a high school student from Markham, Ontario, to change just that.
Now, less than a year after it was founded, FYSC has run two free creative writing workshops and two writing competitions that drew in over 200 hundred participants in both elementary and high school. These two online workshops were attended by students from thirteen different countries from all continents, including Canada, the U.S., Ecuador, Nigeria, Italy, India, and Australia.
After having met Shu, she invited me to attend one of the FYSC workshops, which brought me to want to learn more about the project.
Shu first thought of the idea for FYSC when she was brainstorming ways to make a difference in her community. With her passion for public speaking and debate, social justice issues, and community engagement, FYSC was a natural fit.
“It came from my own passions as a writer, as someone who loves language, and my desire to help those who may be struggling,” says Shu.
Find Your Story Canada has two main goals: “[To] ignite people’s interest in the language arts” and “[to] provide resources and support for students. Especially, for example, racialized and minority students who may not have as much access to resources in education,” says Shu.
In September 2020, FYSC partnered with award-winning teen author Sarah Frank for a workshop series to teach young writers the basics of plot, conflict, character development, and dialogue over the course of four weeks.
When asked, Shu shared that her favourite event so far has been the November essay writing workshop, presenting a unique challenge for budding creative writers. Participants were taught by a student from Wilfred Laurier University that essays can be very personal forms of writing, creative mediums, and equal in power to stories or poetry.
“[The student] turned a not-so-fun genre of writing into something super engaging and fun,” says Shu. She was also impressed by the quality of essays written by participants, which were showcased in an essay writing competition.
“I like to be exploratory and try a bunch of genres,” says Shu. Her diverse interests are reflected in her future plans for workshops, for which she tries to find new and original themes.
When it comes to giving advice to other young writers, Shu reflects on the importance of being part of a community when it comes to writing.
“Reaching out to other people is super important,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to show [your writing]!”
Shu also stresses the importance of good writing habits, advising others to write consistently. Finding a writing community, like FYSC, can help writers feel accountable to their goals and feel supported in their ideas.
FYSC is currently running a letter-writing competition called “Dear Love/Time/Death,” encouraging people to get involved with a form of writing that they may have not considered the creative potential of before, which is letter-writing. Shu is also planning a journalism workshop, for which she will partner with INKspire, another Canadian youth writing organization.
If you are interested in signing up for future FYSC events, check out more information here.
Freya Abbas
studies linguistics and literature at the University of Toronto and is passionate about promoting the arts in her community. She is the lead writer of INKspire, which is an organization that facilitates free poetry workshops for youth. She likes experimenting with different kinds of writing, from plays to essays. Her favourite books to read are historical fiction novels.