On Apr. 10, Waterloo Region East Side Branch Library hosted an event, An Evening with Author Kyo Lee. It was an author discussion and book launching event for her poetry collection, I Cut My Tongue on a Broken Country, released on Mar. 18.
Kyo Lee is a Korean-Canadian student from Waterloo, Ontario, and the youngest winner of the CBC Poetry Prize. She is also a finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. Her work appeared in numerous publications such as Narrative, Nimrod, Prism, The Forge, and This Magazine.
Drawing from her creativity, experience and secondary research, Lee’s new book explores the Asian American diaspora, growing up, womanhood and grappling with different identities at the same time while maturing.
“There were a lot of clear themes,” Lee said. “I wasn’t particularly thinking about those themes while writing. I think they just came out.”
Melissa Roe, a high school English and Drama teacher at Laurel Heights Secondary School, said Lee’s work is mesmerizing, and she is a talented artist and author.
“I feel humbled and very grateful to come to an event like this at the library and hear someone so gifted at their craft,” Roe said.
Lee shared that, while working for her student newspaper, she also worked with the Waterloo Public Library, hosting teen workshops about writing, journalism and poetry.
“When thinking about a potential book launch, I immediately thought of WPL because I’ve always had a positive experience working with them,” Lee said.
Lee also said this event is for young people living in the Waterloo region. She thinks writing-related events or activities are great experiences for them.
According to library staff, one of the goals of the East Side Branch was to inspire a greater appreciation for poetry, writing and creative expression among teens.
“The workshop that Kyo led afterwards was also useful for writers as she went over the process of starting to write, how to get over writer’s block, some useful exercises, and how to keep writing,” Ikhlas Hussain, a programmer and library assistant at Waterloo Public Library Eastside Branch, said.
Hussain also said events like this provide visibility for emerging writers and create potential networking opportunities between audiences, peers and seasoned authors.
“By spotlighting voices like Kyo Lee’s, these events broaden appreciation for literary arts while fostering connections,” Hussain said.
Tanis McDonald, a writer, poet, reviewer and associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, moderated the event. Throughout the event, McDonald and Lee invoked various discussions on her writing process, exploring the themes of Lee’s new poetry collection and discussing Lee’s achievement as a young writer and the comments she received from other writers on her work.
“So, as a writer, it’s good to be read, and it’s even better to be read well,” McDonald said.
After the book discussion, Lee hosted a writing workshop where she presented various helpful strategies and tips to experiment and create expressive poetry and writing while gaining insight from a published poet.
“If there is one piece of advice I would give for mastering the craft, the only key is writing,” Lee said.
“The only way you get better at writing by reading is to study what you’re reading. If you take inspiration and take notes, you are borrowing ideas,” she said.
Lee shared that she would continue to write more books in the future and hopes to continue writing creatively for the rest of her life.
“I’m in the process of writing a novel and also writing some new poetry, which has been fun,” Lee said.
She also hopes to do more events, such as the author’s discussion with the public library or any libraries she visits.
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