Miriam Körner was one of the funding recipients. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Local writers receive $17,500 in Saskatchewan Arts Board funding

Feb 7, 2020 | 12:43 PM

Two writers from the tri-communities have received a total of $17,500 from the Saskatchewan Arts Board to assist them in ongoing projects.

Miriam Körner was given a $10,000 Independent Artists grant to complete a first draft of her third novel Burnt. The grant will also enable her to travel to places the protagonist in her novel will visit.

The second recipient was Kenneth Carriere who was awarded a $7,500 Independent Artists grant to conduct and record Swampy Cree language interviews, record historical photos from family albums and obtain permissions to use recorded photos and interviews for a book. larongeNOW reached out to Carriere for an interview, but he declined to comment.

“The writing process is kind of hard, but that’s why this grant is so beautiful,” Körner said. “It gives me time to write instead of having to worry about making money. This at least gives me some time so I can focus on just writing.”

Burnt marks Körner’s third novel and is about a young female character who plans on participating in a large sled dog race, but her plans suddenly fall apart as her home is lost to a fire. She has difficulty coping with the loss of the home and one of her sled dogs, which was supposed to be the leader in the race. She eventually decides to move to Toronto to live with an aunt.

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Some time this spring, Körner will travel to Toronto to conduct research for her book. She’s going to walk the streets and visit certain places all with her character in mind. Körner wants to discover what impression her character would have of the city and if she would be able to find her way there. Körner expects to be in Toronto for about 10 days.

“I have a lot of writer friends in Toronto, so I might connect with them and ask the questions beforehand, so they can tell me about certain places that I can then explore,” she said. “I don’t know Toronto very well. I have to follow my character.”

Independent Artists grants support Saskatchewan artists to pursue their creative work and careers by funding creative, professional development or research projects and the performance of artistic works. These grants support the ongoing development of artistic practice in Saskatchewan.

At the most recent grant deadlines, the Saskatchewan Arts Board awarded funding to more than 100 individuals and organizations, totaling almost $850,000.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno