July 2020 | Page 8

Your Story Festival MASC’s Your Story Festival is a rich day of writing and illustrating workshops, panel discussions and artist readings for students in Grades 8 - 12/sec II - V. Secondary students with a deep interest in writing and illustration are invited to attend this day of workshops with a stellar line-up of professional artists from across the country. This event would not be possible without our event sponsor: Leacross Foundation and our school partners at the Ottawa- Carleton District School Board. The voice of a Your Story student participant: Marion Pignat “Being the daughter of an award-winning author (Caroline Pignat) is quite a heavy burden, but thankfully I did inherit a bit of her creative voice when it comes to writing. Although I did not pursue writing as a job like my mom, being a good writer has definitely helped me succeed in life, especially when it came to schoolwork. However, I found that my writing skills became just that: schoolwork. Luckily for me, I found out about MASC’s Your Story workshop when I was in high school. At first, I worried that a whole day of writing would be boring - but I couldn’t have been more wrong! Not only were the workshops fun, they helped me get back in touch with my creative side. I was able to meet with so many awesome authors and other student writers who taught me that there is so much more to writing and that I have a voice worth sharing. In fact, I loved my first Your Story experience so much that I returned the next year and gained even more new insights and skills. I’m so thankful to MASC for giving me the opportunity and the tools to become a better writer and for helping me realize the importance of feeding your creative side. 8