Read Across Wood Buffalo Day to be proclaimed for Sept. 25

By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

(ANNews) – Writers’ Guild of Alberta writer-in-residence for Fort McMurray Juleus Ghunta’s own journey from illiteracy inspired him to launch a new annual community literacy initiative, Read Across Wood Buffalo Day. 

“I had a lot of challenges growing up due to familial dysfunctions and poverty,” said Ghunta, who grew up in rural Jamaica in the small parish (the Jamaican equivalent of a province) of Hanover, where he experienced abuse. 

He didn’t attend pre-school and when he began his formal schooling at age 5, he struggled “to make up for those last years and opportunities to learn,” and was still unable to read by the time he turned 11, forcing him to repeat Grade 6. 

Thanks to a “shockingly generous and kind” teacher and American expat mentor who introduced him to authors such as Deepak Chopra and Khalil Gibran, Ghunta didn’t just learn to read, but decided to make promoting literacy his life’s work. 

On Friday, Read Across Wood Buffalo Day will be proclaimed for Sept. 25 with an event at Keyano College’s Clearwater Campus that will open with a blessing from Mikisew Cree First Nation Elder Loraine Albert and feature remarks from Wood Buffalo Deputy Mayor Mike Allen. 

There will be music, food, and an opportunity for local authors and bookstores to showcase their work. The proclamation event will also have a reading-themed photo booth for attendees to snap a picture with their favourite book. 

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta established its regional writer-in-residence program last year, selecting one writer in each of the Edmonton and Calgary areas, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. 

“Fort McMurray is not really seen as an artistic kind of place. It’s seen as an industrial town,” he explained. 

While there are “some really good writers in Fort McMurray,” said Ghunta, they don’t have the same range of opportunities and resources available to them as writers living in Edmonton or Calgary. Many are self-published and haven’t “been challenged to write at a level where they can publish in competitive journals,” for instance, he said. 

“One of my roles here has been to challenge them in this way,” said Ghunta, who’s successfully encouraged a couple of his local peers to participate in the guild’s mentorship program, of which he’s an alumnus. 

Each writer-in-residence was asked to organize an event to celebrate the closing of their residency. Ghunta decided to make his the “beginning of an awareness raising process” for the first annual Read Across Wood Buffalo Day. 

Friday’s event will provide an opportunity for local participants, including schools, social agencies and businesses, to learn about the different ways they can observe Read Across Wood Buffalo Day when it comes in September. 

These could include inviting dignitaries to read to kids, having children dress up as their favourite book character or “providing spaces for marginalized voices that are unfortunately being suppressed here in Alberta to have their stories told,” said Ghunta. 

The purpose is to “provide an opportunity for us to reflect deeply on what literacy really means beyond just the ability to understand simple texts, but having conversations about emotional literacy, racial literacy, financial literacy and the many literacies that exist,” he added.