Hart High School student publishes book

Hart High School student publishes book

Pirate News is a presentation of Hart Public Schools in partnership with Oceana County Press. 

HART — Hart High School senior Amelia Tuinstra has published a collection of short stories and poems, “They have only fallen asleep …and other dark stories.”

The book “explores the humanity lost and gained through our journeys in life,” said Tuinstra. “The writings in the book are connected only thematically. Many of them feature despair, and even death, although I’ll leave the rest of interpretation up to readers.” 

“Sleeping now are they?, he snarled at her, venom dripping from his words, blood from his hands, life from a piece of glass as splintered as he was.”

The teen has been writing for a long time, although “did not truly start actively writing short stories and poetry until this past year. This collection was born from a series of conversations among others who love to read and write, and from observing the world around me.” 

Tuinstra, 17, is a leader for Hart High School’s literary activities, said English teacher, Susan Hall. A member of the school’s language arts team, the author recently earned West Michigan Conference First Team honors and will represent the school at this spring’s Student Showcase as the literary arts nominee. One of the stories in the book was a writing assignment for English teacher Brett Ramseyer, said Hall. 

The writer’s parents are Kittie Tuinstra and Matt Tuinstra, and Kittie helped with editing the self-published book, which came off the presses early this year.

After graduation, Tuinstra plans to “continue writing, hopefully publishing more works, and exploring a potential career in book writing or editing.

“It’s one of two career paths I have right now. I am learning to be a piano technician,” said Tuinstra, who is a pianist. “I tune and repair pianos, which is a very specialized field.”

“They have only fallen asleep …and other dark stories” is available at www.lulu.com.

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