Lauren Seal Releases Debut Novel: Light Enough to Float

Lauren Seal had to wait just a little longer than most authors to get her hands on her debut novel.

“My author copies got lost, so people were getting their copies of the book before I got my copy,” she laughs. “It was a bit of me being like, ‘oh, I wish I could have my book!’”

Now, thankfully, Seal’s copy of Light Enough to Float is safely in hand—and gathering acclaim out in the world, too. It’s a young adult novel written in verse, using poetic lines and deft language to explore a fictional teenager’s hospitalization for an eating disorder.

“It’s been a good response,” Seal notes, of early reactions to the novel. “People who haven't had to deal with eating disorders or mental illness to that level have been saying it just explained so much to them … Though they've never gone through it, they could understand what the main character was going through.”

Light Enough To Float emerged from Seal’s work with the next generation of poets in SWYC, the Spoken Word Youth Choir. She was a participant when she was younger, and now acts as a mentor with the group, helping young people hone their literary talents—including having them showcase at the Edmonton Speech Art and Music Festival. When that festival opened up an adult category, Seal decided to write something herself.

“I've been bossing teens around for however long, I have to show them that I do know what I'm talking about and I'm also willing to put myself out there,” Seal recalls thinking. “So I wrote this short poem about my own experience with having an eating disorder and being hospitalized.”

The poem was well-received, which gave Seal the inkling that she could expand it into a full-length novel. Of course, that proved easier said than done. But Seal dived in, which, in hindsight, was probably the ideal way to go.

“I think I needed to not realize what I was getting into to be able to write it,” she laughs.

Beyond the book, Seal’s name and poetry might already ring a bell: she recently finished her time as St. Albert’s third Poet Laureate, a role where she used her writing to represent the city back to itself. During her tenure, Seal would read at events and act as a cultural and literary ambassador for the city, but she also found ways to directly connect with the community. She put the question “How do you create joy in your community?” out to St. Albert, and used the responses to write “To Create Joy”, a community poem celebrating big and small moments within the city.

“I wanted to share this message of care and compassion and empathy and community,” she says. “I did that community poem as a way to show that this is what else you can get Poet Laureates to do. You can have us do larger projects or things to try and bring people together in the community. … it was both a wonderful honour and opportunity, but it also helped me further launch a writing career.”

Article Written By: Paul Blinov

The book launch for Lauren Seal’s Light Enough to Float is happening at 2pm on November 17th at Forsyth Hall in the downtown Library. Follow this link to register. 

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