Studying Sogetsu ikebana formally since 2017, Lynda Grace Philippsen has been granted Teacher Fourth Degree certification by the Sogetsu School of Ikebana in 2022, Teacher Third Degree in 2025, and is currently working toward Teacher Second Degree Sanyo. Her interests include but are not limited to art, design, music, history, food, wine. reading and writing. Lynda lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
From the early 2000s until the Internet dried up traditional markets for book reviews and feature stories, Lynda freelanced for private clients as well as various newspapers and literary magazines, such as The Globe and Mail, the Vancouver Sun, Books in Canada, Arc Poetry Magazine and Kyoto Journal. In 2011, to capture and share her travels throughout Japan she created The Way of Words, a website and blog. Following her early retirement from a 34-year teaching career, she has contributed multiple stories to PostScript, the quarterly magazine for the British Columbia Retired Teachers’ Association.
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Lynda has been published in several poetry anthologies: Half in the Sun: Anthology of Mennonite Writing with “Strawberries” in 2006, A Verse Map of Vancouver with “Happy Hour: Bacchus Lounge” in 2009, and The Wild Weathers a gathering of love poems with “Final Round” in 2012. Other distinctions for her writing include the CBC Creative Nonfiction prize long list for “Poor Wool” in 2010,” PostScript Honourable Mention for “The Art of Ikebana” in 2018, PostScript Best Travel Story for “I Rented an Old Man” in 2023, and Federation of BC Writers Honourable Mention Prize for Creative Nonfiction for “Love Like Salt” in 2024.
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Prior to her retirement in 2010 Lynda worked for 34 years as a teacher in Delta School District, teaching all ages and numerous subjects from kindergarten to twelfth grade. For more than a decade, together with colleagues in Japan and Canada, she coordinated a Japan-Canada home stay exchange program between Seaquam Secondary in Delta, BC and Hoi-gun School District in Aichi, Japan. Lynda also worked as a Curriculum Coordinator in Delta District, and a Faculty Associate at Simon Fraser University.