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A call to write

With the recent retirement of three community columnists, The Interior News is looking fresh views
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Smithers Interior News Editorial

It has been a sad year for us here at The Interior News.

It started with Lorraine Doiron moving on to Prince George to be closer to her family in October of last year.

Doiron shared her View from the Porch with our readers for 16 years keeping people apprised of goings-on in the valley.

Most recently we have had to say farewell — or are in the process of doing so as the letters of appreciation keep pouring in — to Brenda Mallory.

For well over 30 years, Mallory entertained with her often quirky and personal observations in her column Spice of Life and also wrote a birding column for a long time.

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And now we must bid adieu to Sonja Lester… again.

Sonja returned to us with her anecdotal Across the Valley to fill the void left by Doiron. That column was a bit of an echo through time of her former Rural Roots and Heard it on the Grapevine columns, which appeared in our pages from 2005-2009.

We will, of course, miss Sonja as we already do Lorraine and Brenda.

The Interior News, as the name suggests is a newspaper, but we pride ourselves on providing a wide variety of content. And our community columnists have long been an essential element that we view as the heart of our publication. We are, after all, a community paper.

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It hasn’t been all sadness, however. We did welcome Erik Jacobsen to the fold in the past 12 months with The Gardeners Corner, an exceptionally well-received addition.

Things change and when they do, while we mourn our losses, we must also recognize the opportunity to start anew.

We are now putting out the call to would-be community columnists to throw their pens into the ring.

If you have an idea for a weekly contribution to this paper, please email editor@interior-news.com.

Include a little bit about yourself, why you want to write for us, an outline of what your column would be about and a sample piece that represents what you want to do and your writing style.

Again we thank our former columnists and, in advance, those who wish to carry on their fine contributions in the future.



editor@interior-news.com

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Thom Barker

About the Author: Thom Barker

After graduating with a geology degree from Carleton University and taking a detour through the high tech business, Thom started his journalism career as a fact-checker for a magazine in Ottawa in 2002.
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