For campus resident and student Hari Jeon, writing has become more than a creative outlet.
It’s her way to connect with others and reflect on life’s difficult experiences. It’s also become an opportunity to give back to the community.
The recent University Hill Elementary graduate self-published her first book on Amazon. Titled Find Me in Your Memory, it’s a story that explores the complicated relationship between memory, identity, grief, and human connection.
Jeon, who began Grade 8 last month, spoke with The Campus Resident about how the idea for Find Me in Your Memory came about, and her plans to donate the proceeds from the book to B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The idea for the novel was partly influenced by her experience attending a French language school in Korea, she says. Because she didn’t speak French, she found it difficult to feel like she belonged. It made her think how memories can shape the way people understand themselves, and that experience provided the main idea for her book.
The novel follows five adolescents as they navigate similar feelings of loss, longing, and uncertainty. Through the characters’ stories, Jeon attempts to portray the challenge of maintaining hope when memories and a sense of self feel uncertain.
She said it took roughly three years to complete Find Me in Your Memory, and took some effort to overcome challenges along the way, including becoming immersed in the perspectives of her characters and dealing with periodic bouts of writer’s block.
Despite the challenges, Jeon believes the experience helped her develop not only as a writer but also as an individual.
Jeon says she is donating the book’s proceeds to B.C. Children’s Hospital – a decision partly influenced by her time on student council and seeing how students could choose to spread positivity.
She has so far raised $1,200, and is well on her way to reaching her overall goal of $2,000 by the end of November, when she will be meeting with hospital administration to offer her donation.
“I hope to be able to bring people together through my writing, to send it out into the world and let it grow in people’s hearts,” she says.
Jeon is currently working on her second novel.
ELINA HAILAIJIAO IS A GRADE 11 STUDENT AT LORD BYNG SECONDARY SCHOOL