In the spring of 2017, Jennifer Pownall read her award-winning poem about Port Coquitlam at the mayor’s May Day breakfast.
Now, she’s the city’s new artist-in-residence.
And, during her four-month stint at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village, Pownall will be tackling a topic for her memoir that tends to be taboo: infertility.
Already, Pownall has penned about 40,000 words for her first draft of Re: Birth and she hopes to finished most of the writing by the end of her residency, at the end of April.
In the work, she discusses the treatments and losses she and her husband, Evan, experienced in their attempts to get pregnant over a six-year period (the couple are now parents to Gryphon, 2 and plan to adopt a child in the near future, she said).
“There are countless people who have gone through the same thing,” Pownall said. “It was just so devastating for us because we had gone through so much…. Luckily, both of us refused not to talk about it.”
Pownall hopes her memoir will be a catalyst for conversation and the residency a platform to bring attention to the issue.
Pownall will be in The Outlet (behind PoCo city hall) on Mondays from 1 to 4 p.m. for public visits; she will also host free one-hour long writing sessions on Saturdays (at 12:30 p.m. for writers aged 8 to 12; at 2 p.m. for teens; and at 3:30 p.m. for adults).
Her two-hour writing sessions are on Feb. 17 for teenagers and March 17 for adults. Register online at experienceit.ca.
Call 604-927-8441 or visit portcoquitlam.ca/air.
Meanwhile, Pownall can be reached via social medial: Facebook.com/jenniferpownallauthor; Instagram @jennifer.pownall and Twitter @pownalljennifer.
