Readers can now hold an online Vancouver Island art and literature magazine in their hands.
This week Vancouver Island Regional Library presents its second issue of Sea and Cedar. The publication, an initiative of the Nanaimo Harbourfront Library, features the work of 16 writers and two visual artists from Nanaimo, Gabriola Island, Ladysmith, Victoria, Tofino, Cortes Island and Port Renfrew.
More than 100 people submitted work to the publication and April Ripley, Sea and Cedar managing editor and VIRL librarian, said she was pleased with both the quality and quantity of the entries.
“Again it was really hard to make decisions and narrow it down just based on the quality of all of the writing and the art that we received,” she said. “This time around with the art we had such trouble deciding that we decided to actually include a second artist instead of just one.”
When the magazine debuted last summer it was only available online. Starting with the second issue Ripley said readers will be able to check out physical copies from VIRL libraries.
“The original plan was just to do a digital version,” she said. “But when we saw how popular it was and how interested people were, which we kind of knew people would be really interested, we decided to pursue getting some funding to try to do print issues and luckily we were able to pull that together for the second issue.”
Art work by Nanaimo’s John Haig adorns the cover of the magazine and is featured within it as well. Ripley described his paintings as “really vibrant, really captivating and they give you a different perspective on some of the well-known viewpoints around the Nanaimo area.”
Another Nanaimo resident with work in publication is writer Judy Millar. Her short story, The Comfort of Stones, is about a Nanaimo grandmother with obsessive compulsive disorder whose grandson is being treated for cancer in Toronto.
“She’s unable to go [visit] due to her health issues but she’s helping, or she thinks she’s helping, in her own way…” Millar said. “So it’s her story and how she comes to terms with all this that’s going on in her life and in her grandson’s life.”
Millar said it’s a personal subject as she had a young extended family member in a similar situation as the boy in the story, and she imagined what it would be like for her as a grandmother receiving notifications about his progress.
Millar said she’s looking forward to reading the other stories and poetry in Sea and Cedar. She said, “we have a lot of great writers in this region.”
“I think it’s wonderful for people in the area to know and get a taste of some of the talent that’s around here poetically and in prose, too,” she said.
Sea and Cedar is available at VIRL locations and online.
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