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The celebrated Canadian author Ashley Little has stated that an experience she had at Kelowna’s UBC Okanagan played an important role in the shaping of her career.
“I actually worked with UBCO’s 2008 Writer in Residence, Lynn Coady,” Little said, “and that was, like, a game-changer for me.”
Little worked with Coady on a story that won the Okanagan Short Story contest.
“Then she suggested that it sounded like the first chapter of a novel and I did end up expanding it into my young adult novel ‘The New Normal’; so I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the table and how important it is for people to work with a mentor.”
Little is in the midst of a residency at the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), where she is spending 25 per cent of her time working with emerging writers on their manuscripts.
Her name is becoming well-recognized on the Canadian literary scene, as she was doubly awarded for The New Normal and Anatomy of a Girl Gang at the B.C. Book Prizes in 2014. Also, two of her first three books have been optioned for film and television.
Little is a recent graduate of the Masters in Creative Writing program at UBCO, and she recommends the program highly.
“I think it’s an excellent choice for people who want to do a Masters in Creative Writing,” Little expressed, “because the campus is very community-oriented, so you end up getting to know everyone and I feel like you have a lot more time with your advisors and committee – you know, face-to-face time – than you would at a bigger campus like UBC Vancouver.”
In addition to doing manuscript consultation for her VPL residency, Ashley Little is currently conducting research for her upcoming historical novel about British Columbia’s leper colony, D’Arcy Island.
“I’m really fascinated by the only woman ever sent there,” Little said, “so it’s going to be her story. She was 16 years old, she was from China, and she was found working in a brothel in Victoria. And she was also one of the only people to ever get off the island. Her friends from the brothel sent her money so that she could take a ship back to China.”
No doubt Little’s following is looking forward to this upcoming work of literary fiction.
Ashley Little lives and works in Kelowna, B.C. Her residency at the Vancouver Public Library is approximately half completed, however consultations are still available to writers who would like her thoughts on their work. To inquire about a consultation, visit the VPL’s website.
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