{"id":315751,"date":"2024-07-20T11:43:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T16:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=315751"},"modified":"2024-07-18T17:01:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T22:01:59","slug":"woman-award-poetry-daughter-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-award-poetry-daughter-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman wins award for poetry about life with daughter who has Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A 66-year-old woman from Ottawa, Canada, has become the oldest person to receive the RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award for her poetry highlighting her experiences in caring for her daughter, who has Down syndrome.<\/p>\n

Nancy Huggett told CBC News<\/a> that she didn’t think she would be able to become a writer after her daughter, Jessie, suffered a stroke at the age of 26 in 2015. The effects of the stroke meant that Jessie would require more care from her mother than she previously had.<\/p>\n

“That’s when the intense caregiving started,”\u00a0Huggett told CBC Ottawa’s\u00a0<\/a>All In A Day<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0“[Jessie] lost all language, all movement.”<\/p>\n

Prior to the stroke, Jessie had a more independent life. She helped found the group Propeller Dance, an Ottawa dance company providing programs to people of different abilities. Then the stroke occurred and five years later, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Jessie and her family into isolation and disrupted their routines.<\/p>\n

“It’s like rebuilding again,” said Huggett. “And it’s not that easy to do. Resources are not quite out there.”<\/p>\n

The jury that selected Huggett’s work described it this way:<\/p>\n

A clear cohesion emerges in this epic work, in the interplay of illness and healing, making and breaking, and in the delicate engagement with the religious theme implied in the title… We were struck by the work\u2019s powerful emotional resonance and its brave exploration of a felt experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A post shared by PEN Canada (@pen_canada)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n