Category: Uncategorized

the Embassy event

Here is the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada’s write up about last Friday’s event:

On May 29, 2009 an evening with Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, award-winning children’s author on Canadian-Ukrainian history, took place at the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada.

The Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Ihor Ostash greeted the Canadian-Ukrainian author and congratulated her with awarding of the Order of the Pricess Olha by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yuschenko.

Marsha discussed her challenges as a Canadian Ukrainian fiction writer: the startling racism and roadblocks she has faced, as well as acceptance in unexpected circles. She also gave a brief reading from an upcoming novel.

The guests had an opportunity to ask Ms. Forchuk questions about her profession as a writer.

The talk was made possible by a grant from The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts National Public Readings Program.

The event was sponsored by Ukrainian School of Lesia Ukrainka, Ukrainian Heritage School of Ottawa, Pokrova Ukrainian Arts Network, Ukrainian Youth Association- Оttawa Branch.

Marsha Skrypuch event at the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada, May 29

You are cordially invited to attend this event at the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada

What:
Marsha will discuss her challenges as a Canadian
Ukrainian fiction writer: the startling racism and roadblocks
she has faced, as well as acceptance in unexpected
circles. She will give a brief reading from an upcoming
novel. Q&A session.

When:
Friday, May 29, 2009
7:30—9:00 p.m.

Where:
Embassy of Ukraine in Canada
310 Somerset St. West, Ottawa, ON K2P 0J9
Tel.: (613) 230-2961 ext. 105

Sponsored by:
Ukrainian School of Lesia Ukrainka, Ukrainian Heritage School of
Ottawa, Pokrova Ukrainian Arts Network,
Ukrainian Youth Association- Ottawa Branch

Funded by:
The talk is made possible by a grant from The Writers’ Union of Canada and
the Canada Council for the Arts National Public Readings Program

The Freckled Lion’s awesome launch of Call Me Aram!

In the afternoon, Kate Murray of the Freckled Lion rented the building that had been the dorm for the Georgetown Boys. The kids arrived:

Students assembling for Aram book launch
book signing Call Me Aram

And they got their books signed:

After the student presentation, we went to the Freckled Lion. Here’s a photo of me with Philippe, who played Aram in the play,

and Kate Murray, bookseller extraordinaire:

And here’s a photo of me holding Rob Weston’s AMAZING Zorgamazoo, and Rob holding my Call Me Aram:

Note the crutches in the corner. I don’t recommend doing a book launch while on crutches, but authors will launch despite sleet and rain and snow and torn cartilage….

what to do if you’re in a writing rut

Are you in a writing rut?

Have you tried brainstorming about your main character? This is an exercise I teach in writing workshops and it seems to help get writers out of a rut. Basically, write down your main character’s first name and last name on a piece of paper. Do the same with a secondary character (could be someone they’re in conflict with). Then consider the following:

nickname? if yes, why? if not, why not?
what does this person love?
what do they want?
what bad habit do they have?
what do they eat for breakfast?
what kind of underwear to they wear?
where do they sleep?
what’s their job?
is there something everyone around knows them for?

etc etc

Another idea is to get a job application form and try and fill it out for your characters. What all this does is expand your thoughts about your characters and think about them in a different way. Midway through the brainstorming your mind will explode with revelations. When that happens, think about how these two character confront each other, and then write that scene.

Remember that you don’t have to write your book in a linear way. You can start any place. Do this scene, and then write what comes before and comes after and eventually you’ll catch up to what you’ve already got.

I like to take my characters through a typical 24 hour day. Much of that ends in the trash heap, but again, doing this gives you revelations.

Also, think about your setting in a minute way. What the floor looks like. Are there bugs? What are the smells, touches.

Ukrainian schools and Marty Chan

 

I got up this morning at 7am, washed, packed, dressed and checked out by 7:45 and went down for breakfast. I was being picked up at 8:30 but my ride came early. Fortunately, I’d had a chance to finish my breakfast.

First stop was Ridna Shkola and the young children. These are Ukrainian language Saturday students. Taras had asked me to tell them why I didn’t speak Ukrainian. It all has to do with the prejudice directed at my father when he was a boy. He was beaten every day at school for speaking Ukrainian. And his and his siblings’ names were all anglicized. He didn’t want that for my sister and I so we never took Ukrainian. I told those kids that they were very lucky to live in Canada now; a Canada that was more tolerant. I think it was the sheer exhaustion of the week, but I began to weep. I hate it when that happens. The poor kids. A teacher brought me a tissue and I took a deep breath. Then I did a storytelling session with Enough and we talked about the Holodomor.

From there, Taras drove me to St. John’s Cathedral and I did a session with the Ukrainian language high school students. I enjoyed talking to these students. Mostly I have been presenting to younger students this week so it was a good change for me.

When I was finished, Taras helped me out with my luggage and Marty Chan met me outside.

I hadn’t met Marty in person but we play wordscraper on facebook quite regularly. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant and we had a great visit. I was enthralled with Marty’s journey to becoming a writer and playwright and broadcast journalist. There were many parallels in our early lives. He dropped me off at the airport and right now I am on the second flight. It is 9:50pm and I will be in my own bed in about three hours.

It was an amazing Book Week. I met such great kids and so many fabulous educators. I love Alberta hospitality. If I were to move out of Ontario, Alberta would be where I would want to live. I love the friendliness and the wide open spaces. I love the vast sky and the fact that people can pronounce my last name without hesitation.

An addendum. It is Monday November 24. I had my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon and the MRI showed that I do have a torn meniscus. A “serious” tear, he says, but fixable. My surgery is scheduled for just before Christmas.

Sherwood Park, Camrose and Enough

I slept soundly last night. The Coast is a really comfortable hotel. Helen picked me up at 9am, so I had a chance to have a shower and wash my hair, have a leisurely breakfast with an extra cup of coffee, and read the paper. I did two back to back readings at the Strathcona Public Library. Big groups, but nice kids. Then Helen and two of the library staff took me to a pasta place with fantastic homemade pasta. I locked myself into the bathroom for about 5 minutes and was panicking, but the door finally did open. The restaurant was so loud that no one heard my banging and calling out. Helen drove me to Camrose and we had trouble finding the library. Got out my trusty GPS yet again and arrived – about 4 minutes late. There was a good number of people waiting patiently for me to arrive in the meeting room in the basement. I think there were 20 or so people, both kids and adults. Not a bad turnout for the middle of the day. I began presenting as I peeled off my coat. I presented for over the allotted hour because when I wrapped up, everyone remained sitting and kept asking more questions. We left at around 3 or 3:15. There was a traffic jam on the main street as we were leaving. An accident had recently occurred. Scattered over the street were hand tools – wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. We were diverted onto a parallel street, and when we got to the front of the traffic, we could see a pick-up truck with the front all bashed in. There were several other cars that had been dented. The poor person in the truck likely lost his livelihood when he lost all those tools.

We got back to the hotel at about 4:40 so I had a bit of time before my 5:30 pick up to wash and change and put on an extra layer of nail polish. My ride came 17 minutes early. Fortunately, I was ready except for wet polish. I left without my coat. The weather was mild and I didn’t want to smudge my nails.

This next venue was a wine and cheese with the Ukrainian Orthodox Women’s Association. This group is donating a copy of Enough to every elementary school in Alberta.

enough

 

They asked me to be at this wine and cheese and to be the speaker because this was the launch of their program. I wore non-blue jeans for this special occasion. I had an ivory jacket and black wool pants, but still wore my boots – my knee has been somewhat sore all week. It took me about 20 pokes to get my Princess Olha medal on the lapel. I felt that this was an appropriate venue for wearing it. They had copies of Enough for sale at the event and it was really nice to chat with people from the Edmonton Ukrainian community. They gave me two standing ovations. One when Nadia mentioned what I received the medal for, and again, after my speech. I signed books and then Mary took me back to the hotel. I was a bit anxious because I thought I was going to be back by about 7:20. Nadia had mentioned that there was another event at the hall and they had to be out by 7. I had made plans to meet my friend Connie Forst for dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel and I had visions of her sitting in there by herself wondering where I was. It turned out she had a late start coming into Sherwood Park herself. I had time to change back into jeans and we arrived at the restaurant at the same time. She had her sister Caroline there as well. Caroline is a librarian at a Sherwood Park public school. Connie is a public librarian. I was also hoping to meet Karen Bass in person. She was coming in to Edmonton with her friend Gisela to do some interviews, but we hadn’t emailed in over a week so I wasn’t sure if that was still on. Just as our dinners arrived, Karen and Gisela also arrived. Karen is also a librarian, so it was like old home week. We stayed and chatted to nearly midnight.

When I got back to the room, I didn’t even attempt to pack. Just washed and flopped into bed.

 

Medicine Hat

hunger

The thing that I love about Best Westerns is that they have free Internet, a pool, hot tub and fast breakfast. I got dressed and packed early, had something to eat, got caught up on email and was picked up by Judy from Connaught School at 8:20am. I left my big suitcase at the hotel for later pick up. Judy asked me if the excitement had woken me up. What excitement? I asked. There had been a fire right behind the hotel. Fire trucks, sirens, smoke. I slept through it all.

Connaught School was built in 1912. A big old school, and I was speaking in the gym – not my favourite place. It was a lot of kids too – about 140. But even with the bad acoustics it was fine because the kids were so well-behaved. Lots of good questions. The public librarian popped in to hear my session as well. She was born in Brantford.

Judy took me to Davison School. Another great school with really well behaved students. What is it about Medicine Hat that makes the kids so well behaved? I did two back to back sessions there, one with younger kids and one with the older ones. A student gave me a giant marble. With the younger ones, I did a storytelling of Enough and with the older ones, I read the vomit scene from The Hunger. They asked for more, so I read them the beating up scene from Hope’s War. There had been a number of boys in the older group who had said that they didn’t like reading, so I was glad for the opportunity to read those bits. Boys love them. They gathered around after the readings, wanting to ask more questions. That’s always such a great thing.

Anne Rogers handed me a bagged lunch as I got into her car. It was a feast. An egg salad sandwich (my standby) a salad, cut veggies and dip, a chocolate bar, and yogurt. I had the sandwich in the car. When I got to Webster Niblock, I found out that I had another 20 minutes so I had the yogurt too. Packed up the rest and I am taking it to Edmonton with me.

The two sessions I did at Niblock were both in the music room and, like at Davison, the acoustics were good and the groups weren’t too big – no more than 100 – so I didn’t have to use my microphone. The younger kids came in first and I did a storytelling of Enough and then showed them my medal. They were thrilled. A really nice group of kids. I always talk about my own early reading difficulties and that topic resonated with them.

The older group (5 and 6) were also very well-behaved, yet enthusiastic listeners. I had enough time to read them the vomit scene from The Hunger. Normally I let the kids choose what scene they’ll be hearing, but the two sessions were back to back and the first group took longer to exit because they were all looking at the medal, so the second group had a slightly shorter session. After it was over, kids gathered round to talk to me. Some came in later, and chatted while I packed my things up. Avis invited me to the staff room and they had fresh cut fruit and yummy cookies. Niblock’s teachers obviously love their school and their kids and each other. There was an easy jocularity amongst them. One of the teachers, Jeet, told me about her early life and the lives of her parents. Really interesting stuff. I told her that she needed to write these stories. Several of the teachers took me for dinner after school, and another of the teachers, Pat, also had amazing stories. I encouraged her to write as well. It would be fabulous is Pat and Jeet started a writing club to encourage each other at school. I will be emailing them to see if they are writing.

Dinner was great. It was this Italian place that was packed to the rafters with Medicine Hatters. Thursday is steak and pasta night. Really nice steak. And the steak and pasta is only $7.95. Hard to believe! After dinner, Avis dropped me off at the airport. Took one flight to Calgary and right now I am in the plane to Edmonton. By the time I get in to the hotel it will be about 10pm.

It was actually about 10:25 when I got in to the hotel. The taxi driver didn’t know where the Coast Edmonton East was. Good thing I had my trusty blackberry with its GPS. When I got to the hotel, I checked in and then walked over to a 7-11 around the corner for some nail polish remover. I had been adding a layer of polish each day but it was all now chipped beyond repair. I phoned Helen Lavendar, the storyteller who was driving me around on Friday, on my way back from the 7-11. I didn’t want to wait til I got into my room because it was so late as it was.