On a Winter Solstice several years ago, I had a sudden urge to share some of my thoughts with the world. I was in between places at the time, between home for Christmas and away back to school in Newfoundland. The transitional space, the gap, between what I knew and what was yet to be learned about the world, and myself, was a rich source of inspiration. From it grew this space where I share parts of my own journeying through time and places.

I am a folklorist and a storyteller. This is where I share the beauty and wonder of my home place. I am currently the Director of Living Heritage for Heritage Saskatchewan. Previously, I worked for SaskCulture and as a social media coordinator for the National Film Board of Canada’s Grasslands Project. I am also a filmmaker and the director of the short films Ride (2017) and In the Garden on the Farm (2020), produced by the National Film Board of Canada. I also directed Lift, Spur (2020), funded in part by the Canada Council for the Arts. See the “Films” page to learn more and to watch. 

This blog was borne out of my homesickness when I was living in Newfoundland studying Folklore. Though I loved my time on a windswept island in the North Atlantic and will always hold it in my heart, distance from home made me realize for the first time how much I had been shaped by my prairie roots.

Born and raised on a farm in the deep south of Saskatchewan, on Treaty Four Territory, I am passionate about the cultural heritage of the rural prairies and I enjoy uncovering the hidden stories of our shared landscape. As a writer first and foremost, this blog is where I give free rein to my creative impulses, so you’ll find a mix of content, from folklore and history and my experiments with photography, to musings about my personal connection to this place which I am privileged to call home.

I have recently moved away from the prairies and, as fate would have it, find myself back on the Atlantic coast – this time in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. As the dust settles from this most recent transition, I am taking time to allow new thoughts and ideas to incubate and waiting for them to emerge into something creative. As always, my heart belongs at home, in The Gap. I have learned the hard and the long way that sometimes a little distance helps recalibrate that sense of home, of belonging. In the meantime, I’m curious to see what the Annapolis Valley has in store for me. 

To learn more about me, see The Great White Winter and Chasing the Light.  To learn more about this blog, check out The Gap No. 39.

To contact me, email kristin@fromthegap.com. I welcome all questions and comments.

Thank you for stopping by!