In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

About the project…

The Word on the Street is thrilled to present an exciting, new project in Nova Scotia for adult learners – In Our Words. This program is a part of a national program, Canadians Reading Together, created by The Word on the Street. Through the regional Word on the Street festivals a series of programs was developed to directly benefit adult learners in our communities. In Nova Scotia, the committee for this project is comprised of Board members from The Word on the Street Halifax, and representatives from Frontier College, the Halifax Literacy Network, the Department of Education, and the Provincial Literacy Coalition. The project was co-ordinated and facilitated by KHG Management.

There are three major components of the In Our Words project:

• Creative Writing Workshops with adult learners from across Nova Scotia
• Publication of the learners’ creative writing
• Launch of the publication, with the opportunity for learners to read from their work, at The Word on the Street Festival in Halifax on Sunday, September 29, 2002.

The project presented nine creative writing workshops throughout Nova Scotia communities. Workshops were held in Truro, Antigonish, St. Ann’s Gaelic College, College L’Acadie in Metaghan River, Lawrencetown, The Mi’k maq Friendship Centre in Halifax, Sackville, Dartmouth, and Lunenburg. The workshops were hosted by a local published author and attended by adult learners from the area. The learners received positive feedback and direction for their creative writing. To attend the workshop the learners were required to submit their work to a committee for selection for the publication.

The project had three major goals. First, to bring learners and local authors together in an educational and interactive setting through the creative writing workshops. Second, the project aimed to provide the learners with a forum within which to showcase their work and the opportunity to be in a bona fide publication. Finally, the project will allow the Word on the Street to interact and strengthen its ties with the literacy community.