Thank you for all the GREAT questions, you guys!
Thanks for the photos, Omaira!
Tag: author visits
Visiting Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School
Ms Popovic from Sir Arthur Carty Catholic School in London just emailed me some photos from my March visit.
In this photo, I’m reading the scene when Nadia meets Hitler.
Students had lots of great questions about Stolen Child and Making Bombs for Hitler.
These Sir Arthur Carty students are holding up a variety of books, including the Japanese edition of Hope’s War. I’m holding the Korean edition of Silver Threads and the Ukrainian edition of Enough.
The question was “Which book is your favourite of all that you’ve written?” That is such a difficult question. I love them all! Enough holds a special place because it was such a risky book. Back in 2001 when it came out, I was subjected to hate mail and death threats for writing about the Holodomor — the Stalin-instigated starvation of millions — for the crime of being Ukrainian.
Book Launch — Stolen Child — Feb 11
more Ottawa photos
Lesia Ukrainka and Ridna Skhola in Ottawa
Here’s a photo of me on Saturday with my three amazing organizers!
From left to right: Lesya Granger, Chrystia Chudczak, me, and Dahlia Allaire.
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.
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:
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….
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.
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
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.
Sundre
Jodi from Sundre Library picked me up after I had a quick breakfast at the Best Western. The Sundre library is lovely. It used to be the elementary school but was renovated into the library. Jodi and Michael couldn’t have been more welcoming. Almost as soon as I got there, a group of grade 3 students arrived. They sat in silence while I did my final set up and I introduced myself and began my session right away. They asked great questions and sat listening attentively beyond the hour allotment.
Michael drove me to Mary Hay’s house in the country and then Mary drove me to Calgary. The roads were quite icy and we had a challenge finding Ecole St. Wilfrid. When we got there, we were ushered into the library, where tables of selected children sat. There was a place marker on a table indicating where I was to sit. I was served delicious homemade lasagna and an ice cream sandwich for dessert. The children who were in the room had been voted in by their classmates as the students who exemplified the virtue of compasssion. After I finished my lunch, I stood and answered their questions.
I got a chance to meet Ginger Mullin in person while at Ecole St. Wilfrid. She came in for lunch with her children. It is so good to put a face to a name. Ginger has done a brilliant job of organizing this week. Everything is going like clockwork. It’s a busy week (just like I requested) but everything is so beautifully organized that it isn’t tiring.
After that, I had two back to back sessions. The first was with grades 1 to 3 and the second was 4 to 6. There were a lot of kids in each group but they were attentive and they asked good questions. After the sessions, the librarian brought me a massive pile of Prisoners in the Promised Land to sign. There must have been more than 40. The staff had purchased some Daughter of War for themselves and I also autographed place name papers. I was then driven to the airport and flew to Medicine Hat. I ended up in yet another 2nd floor room with no elevator so I asked for help with my luggage. Went to the restaurant across from the parking lot and had bison and Saskatoon berry pie and then came back and had a swim. Am looking forward to my very busy Thursday.