Okanagan raised author beginning Canadian tour
As a hopeful new author, Chiara Mason is branching out with a newly published book of prose and poetry, Blooming.
The collection of reflections and musings on the “seasons of life we all go through” is her first swipe at entering the literary field, and will start off with a mini-cross-Canada book tour.
“My first stop will be in Kelowna, where I have lived and also went to university, before moving to Vancouver and then to Toronto,” she said.
As a dedicated blogger and podcaster, Mason has chalked up a list of ‘firsts’ that marks her as a standout in her family.
Rightly proud of her accomplishments, she was the first in her family to receive a university education, the first to travel and live overseas and now has completed her goal of being published.
“Blooming, is a collection of poetry that’s aimed at capturing the ebb and flow of the many changes people experience in their lives,” she said. “Life-altering transformations of the cycles of growth and grief.
“I recognized that there are many young people who are navigating the emotional seasons of change,” and the “changes brought out during the pandemic and post pandemic,” Mason noted.
The prose/poetry book also chronicles her personal navigation through depression, anxiety and the devastation of loss and grief.
The self-published edition explores some of the mental health struggles she faced, navigating the pandemic and its ups and downs, learning to use self-reflection, as a way to cope and know “others have been on the same road.”
“It’s showing people that regardless of what they are going through, they are not alone, and can get through it. There are a lot of transitions, and my book is my story, that will hopefully help others get through their own challenges and changes.”
Getting the book to the publishing stage was a journey of its own, taking the newbie author a “full year” to finally “bring it together.”
“I’m hoping that young adults will find my reflections helpful as they experience their own life changes,” she added.
“Going from high school to university, starting a new job, moving to somewhere new, getting into relationships, marriage, children. It’s all full of emotions.”
And true to life, the book does have “some darker moments” but Mason confirms that it “overall, ends on an uplifting, positive note.”
Her plans include a Kelowna signing at Indigo Books in Orchard Park Mall on May 26 from 1 to 5 p.m. and also at the Black Sheep Coffee Café on Bernard Ave. on May 27. There will also be stops in Vancouver and Toronto.
“The book is a guide for your next step in life’s journey, providing a path and perhaps finding the answers we’ve been looking for all along,” she said.