Yarmouth County writer receives literary award

The Yarmouth County resident has won the Young Adult/Juvenile Fiction prize in the 32nd annual Atlantic Writing Competition. There were 19 entries. Submissions had to be below 75,000 words. Hers was around 50,000 with 14 chapters. “I’ve been writing for ages, but just never had the courage to put anything in. I’m kind of overwhelmed to think I got it,” said Redfurn, who received the award for her book “In Interesting Times”.

The story is about Mary Katherine, who is transported back to live her great-aunt’s life at the time of the Halifax Explosion. “The 1917 lifestyle is as shocking to her as the explosion itself,” said Redfurn.

The three adjudicators for the competition suggested she should try to have the book published. She plans on seeking advice from other writers when she attends the Writer’s Gala next month at Aldernay Landing.

Earlier, she had sent the concept and the first two chapters to Nimbus but was informed that the company already had enough books on the subject.

Redfurn says she has deep appreciation for the group of seven women, her “pit crew”, that review her writing. “If you just read it yourself, you never like it,” she said.

A letter written by her grandmother, Edith Baker, to her two brothers in France describing the Halifax explosion, gave Redfurn the idea for her story. Baker kept a diary faithfully from 1909 for close to 60 years. “She loved the weather, so in my writing I mention it, and it’s all from her diary,” said Redfurn.

She has previously unpublished pictures from the Halifax Explosion that her grandfather shot to help illustrate the book.

The story is a departure from her usual writing - what she refers to as serial novels. She usually puts out a chapter every two weeks. “I call it my Seinfeld novel because it’s all about characters and not about plot,” she said.

She says the Yarmouth library was the best place to research for her award winning manuscript. “The stuff you read on the Internet you can’t ever verify. When you’re doing historical research you have to be accurate,” she said.

Redfurn says she’s excited about the award and looks forward to the Writer’s Gala. “I’m thrilled to think that I’ll be attending. There are people that attend like Budge Wilson and Silver Donald Cameron and George Elliott Clarke, these people that I’ve been reading all these years.”

She’s also pleased that a version of her grandmother’s account of an important historic event has received attention. “I think it’s a story that’s important not to lose. The Explosion has had an effect on Halifax that through the last century people don’t even realize.”

Will she continue writing? “I can’t stop, it’s sort of an obsession,” she said.

Over 250 writers from the Atlantic Provinces submitted novels, poetry, short stories, and works for children to the annual Atlantic Writing Competition for unpublished works. The contest juries spent eight months reading and providing individual feedback for each entry before choosing this year’s twenty-two winners.