The longest-serving editor of a local literary periodical launched during the pandemic has turned the page on her creative stewardship of Not An Island after completing its fall 2024 issue.
Robin Lamarche, a professional editor, seized the reins of the quarterly journal from its founder Cindy Labonté-Smith four issues after its inception in 2021.
The publication was created by the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society. It began as an online-only anthology dedicated to highlighting poetry and prose by Coast writers. Poet Atma Frans (recently an award winner with the Muriel’s Journey Prize for Canadian poets) contributed four verses to the inaugural edition; filmmaker Annie Frazier Henry and author Heather Conn submitted prose works. Freelancer Arthur Lightbourn provided a book review.
Under Lamarche’s editorship, the journal has grown into a 60-page print publication that in its current edition features work by 21 writers and artists.
“The mission of the writers and editors society is to foster, mentor and develop writers and editors wherever they are, whatever their level,” said Lamarche. “In my opinion, that’s the beauty of Not An Island — you can see your work on the page.”
Contributors often proffered pieces accompanied by a bashful apology, confessing they may not be a writer but were compelled to share their creativity.
“For me as an editor, that’s been so exciting and rewarding and beautiful,” observed Lamarche, “to see their improvement and development.”
She intends to remain a consistent contributor. Time for Sophie, a first-person essay by Lamarche, appears in the latest issue accompanied by artwork by Roberts Creek multi-disciplinarian Roger Handling.
Lamarche assembled a team of collaborators to shape the publication, including poetry editor Rosa Reid and copy editor Jan DeGrass. Mike Starr managed the quarterly’s transition to a print-on-demand quarto produced by a global book retailer and publisher.
The anthology’s contents are a study in Sunshine Coast characters and imagery. A painting by Paddy Meade of the pier at Davis Bay illustrates the cover of the Fall 2024 issue. A poem by Peter Toews (Leaving Dormancy) writes of “Omnipresent cedars shade from above / Red and green Maples umbrella below / Sun and shade strengthen one another.” In On the Ferry Again, singer-songwriter Catherine McNeil laments a lover’s embarkation aboard a touchstone of coastal life: “’on the ferry again’ is all you wrote / i think you’re telling the world you’re leaving.”
Not An Island follows the example set by earlier authors’ groups on the Coast. The SunCoast Writers’ Forge published two volumes of historical sketches in the early 1990s.
“The sweet thing about Not An Island is that there were people here way before us,” wrote Reid in a foreword to the Summer 2022 issue, citing Coast literary antecedents like Roberts Creek poet Hubert Evans. She recollected a conversation with Evans before his death in 1986, complaining to him of her frustrated attempts to find an audience for her writing. “You have to be hard-boiled,” the novelist and poet counselled her. “You’re the poet. You can see.”
Lamarche worked with contributors to shape their submissions by offering feedback and structural recommendations. “Criticism is hard to take,” she acknowledged. “We want a certain level of quality, but our level is flexible. And that’s our definition of the group: wherever you are, you’re welcome.”
Occasionally controversial content would be reviewed by the society’s board. “I love the well-placed F-word and use it more than pepper,” admitted Lamarche, “but we want a certain level of decorum.”
Not An Island will continue under the editorship of guest editors. Longtime Coast Reporter writer Jan DeGrass will oversee the upcoming winter issue. Copies of the anthology are available for purchase at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Talewind Books and online via scwes.ca.
