Encouragement
Encouragement – Writings by Donna Bishop with tributes & poems by friends
A 2014 Fraser Valley Poets Society Project
This 198-page volume traces the beginning and growth of the Matsqui-Sumas-Abbotsford Poets Potpourri Society (now Fraser Valley Poets Society) through the eyes and pen of its founder Donna Bishop. It is also her personal manifesto extolling the value of the writing and poetry community and the importance of friends and family through the seasons of life.
Approximately half of the book contains her writings—mostly poems, though there are some prose pieces as well. In sections titled “Encouragement,” “Faith,” “Family,” “Writing,” “Occasions of Note,” and “Reflections” she gives us much to think about on topics as diverse as why we write to what it means to be a wife, mother, and grandmother. Copies of postcards with Donna’s poems and illustrations are section dividers. As well, there are photos of Donna throughout.
The second half of the book is made up of prose and poetry tributes followed by an anthology section of over 60 poems by 17 FVPS members. These poems echo and enlarge on the themes introduced in Donna’s section of the book.
Title: Encouragement – Writings by Donna Bishop with tributes & poems by friends
Editors: Alvin Ens & Violet Nesdoly
Publisher: Fraser Valley Poets Society (printed by First Choice Books, Victoria, B.C.), Paperback 198 pages.
ISBN: 978-0-9631163-4-2
Price: $15.00
To purchase contact Brayden Sawatzky or Alvin Ens.
Fraser Valley Poets Society 
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