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World-Renowned poet kicks off tour in Fort St. James

By Ruth Lloyd
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Poet Shane Koyczan performed in Fort St. James Sept. 20. Contributed photo

By Ruth Lloyd

On September 20, 2018, the Community Hall Theatre of Fort St. James was packed with people. They were there to hear, of all things, poetry.

Shane Koyczan is a poet whose words will sit on shelves alongside Charles Bukowski, Allan Ginsberg and Maya Angelou for centuries to come. He has performed in Europe, Australia and the United States, selling out venues around the world. He has tens of millions of views on YouTube, and we had him right here, in Fort St. James.

Shane Koyczan performed at the opening of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. His words and his performance resonated with Canadians across this nation.

His voice speaks to our innermost human spirits; to our fears, our hopes, our desires, our triumph and our pain. He cuts through to the essence and he hits you in the gut.

Koyczan uses colourful language, but he is also profoundly gentle. He speaks to incredibly sensitive topics like reconciliation and our country’s troubled history in a way that allows the audience to look inside themselves and see how we can all move forward, one human gesture or kindness at a time.

This year, Koyczan has been grieving the loss of his grandmother, the woman who raised him. He shared his pain in words which anyone who has gone through grief and loss can identify with, and he made us laugh while he did it.

With everything from anecdotes of his beloved grandparents to quoting American politicians, Koyczan spent 70 minutes with the audience in the palm of his hand. There were tears and there was laughter and in the end, there was a standing ovation. It was a night to remember for Fort St. James.

Koyczan was starting off his latest B.C.-wide tour and was the first performer in the Community Arts Council of Fort St. James’ (of Pope Mountain Arts Centre) 2018-19 concert series. The next performance in the concert series will be Oct. 20 with blues performer Jenie Thai and her band.

Two local authors helped round out the Community Arts Council of Fort St. James’ presentation of poet Shane Koyczan on Sept. 20.

The show at the Community Hall Theatre was kicked off by the local writers Barbara Robin and Joyce Helweg.

Well-known in the community, they both read anecdotes from some of their writing and helped warm up the audience for Koyczan.

Robin calls herself “a free spirit who came of age in north central British Columbia during the early 1960s, a boom time when anything seemed possible and everything was tried… the easy stuff twice.”

Robin is the author of the memoir, I Should Have Married a Cowboy, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Jeanne Clark Local History Awards. She says she is still on the look out for the elusive long-legged, good-lookin’ cowboy. Robin now lives in Prince George, where she can sometimes be found writing historic non-fiction, hiking bush trails and learning to play the ukulele.

Joyce Helweg has lived in Fort St. James for more than 60 years. During her time here, she has worked at many different occupations, settling at ranching and writing. She has co-written A Walk Through Time and self published three non-fiction books. Her last publication tells the history of the Fort St. James Community Foundation, in Believe In The Power of Community. Last spring Helweg’s work with this book was recognized by the BC Historical Society at their Grand Gala in Nakusp.

Over the years Helweg has performed in song and prose from the Omineca Gold Fields to Desert Hot Springs, California, from Prince Rupert to Prince George, the Four Season’s Hotel in Vancouver and remote cabins of the Pacific North West.

For more information on events in Fort St. James, follow Pope Mountain Arts on Facebook or check the PMA brochure.