A Woman of Distinction

Last night, the Prince Albert YWCA held its Women of Distinction award banquet at which they honoured five deserving women. One of the women they honoured, Lynda Monahan, holds a special place in my heart and I am so pleased she was chosen.

            Lynda was honoured in the Arts, Culture and Heritage category for her enormous contribution in the field of writing. A wonderful and passionate poet, two books of her poetry have been published. Both books, “A Slow Dance In The Flames” and ‘What My Body Knows” were nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award. Her second book was also nominated for a World Guild Writing Award. Her work has been published in many magazines, including Grain, Fire, Amethyst Review, Other Voices and many others. Her poetry has been broadcast on both provincial and national CBS radio programs.

            Lynda does a great deal of work in the community. She has instructed special workshops at Prince Albert Youth Outreach Program and has facilitated a series of workshops for inmates at Pine Grove Correctional Centre and for at-risk youth in the Eagle Program. Lynda has worked with adults who have acquired brain injuries and their families, resulting in the book “With A Smile and a Tear: Family’s Story of Acquired Brain Injury”. She has completed a Saskatchewan Writers Guild ArtSmart youth mentorship program for young writers. Lynda has worked with our local schools, Commonweal, Canadian Mental Health Association and Prince Albert Foster Families. Through all of this, she still finds time to teach a Creative Writing class at SIAST. Through her work, Lynda has brought joy, healing and purpose to many lives.

            Lynda is a wonderful a passionate teacher and injects her love of writing to all who take part in her classes and workshops. She inspires all those she teaches into putting their thoughts and feelings down on paper. Under her guidance, her students develop the self-confidence they need in order to write and the bravery to show others what they have written. I know this first hand as I have been one of Lynda’s students. To be a student in one of her classes is to know that you are being led by a passionate teacher who finds good in everyone and, in fact, brings out the best in all her students. Lynda guides her students along with positive advice and encouragement.

            At the Women of Distinction award ceremony, many of Lynda’s past and present students were in attendance to see her receive her award. Their presence is evidence of what makes Lynda so special. It is an indication of the effectiveness of her teaching, the far reaches of her compassion and her calm, encouraging personality, that all who begin as students in her class inevitably come to consider her a life-long friend.

            Congratulations, my friend. Well done.  Deserving people receiving recognition . . . it’s a good thing.