Tag: Ukrainian

Maryvale Middle School

It was wonderful to do my first in-person US school visit since spring 2020 on May 19th with Maryvale Middle School in Cheektowaga NY. It was a busy day with three assemblies, two “donuts and discussion” roundtables with selected students plus a whole whack of book signings. There was a Scholastic Book Fair being held in the middle school library while I spoke in the high school auditorium, so students bought a LOT of books. Ms. Cortese was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough time for me to autograph them all but I assured her that I’d stay as long as necessary. I love face-to-face autographs. It’s such a neat opportunity to meet students. I thought it was also interesting that students with the same first name came in clusters to have their books signed. How nifty is that?

Maryvale has students from Ukraine, so it was also good to speak with them about the current war.

My hometown of Brantford and the Buffalo area are connected in an unusual way. The first 50 Ukrainian families came to Brantford not from Ukraine, but from Buffalo. They were employed by the Pratt & Letchworth foundry in Buffalo and when they opened up another foundry in Brantford, 50 of their employees from Ukraine settled here to work at the new plant. And the street many of them lived on in Brantford? Why Buffalo Street of course. Want to read more? Here’s an article I wrote about it way back in 1988!

The Cheektowaga Bee’s Elijah Robinson did a lovely interview and has given me permission to post it here.

This is how thick Oliver Twist (the first book I read) is. But I like to write shorter books because I try to leave out the stuff people skip over.
The photo behind me is of Rhea Clyman, one of the rare journalists who told the truth during the Holodomor. Most journalists took bribes from Moscow and suppressed news of the millions of deaths by forced starvation.
Students had fabulous questions.
Sometimes it’s nice to get right inside the audience to answer questions face to face.
Such an honor to sign books and meet readers face to face.
An author’s dream: a LOT of books to sign!
It’s so awesome having the opportunity to speak to small groups of students!
One of two donut and discussion sessions with selected students. Some really great questions.

Trauma through generations

My late father, Marsh Forchuk, who died in November, would have turned 94 tomorrow. This is a photo of him when he was about 12. He’s the one with the glasses, holding onto that bike.

Dad had to quit school at age 12 because his father was no longer able to run their Alberta farm because of injuries he’d sustained while interned as an “enemy alien” in Canada in WWI had caught up to him.

So because of my grandfather’s internment, my father’s future was forever changed.

CBC Ideas interviewed me and other descendants of internees about this. Here’s the link.

Dad, I’m thinking of you

St. John’s Kilmarnock school

Today I had the pleasure of revisiting St. John’s Kilmarnock School in Breslau ON. I met librarian Carey Gallagher (middle) two decades ago when she was a teacher and I was the writer-in-residence for a year. Back then, I met with every class at least once but spent much time encouraging aspiring writers. I still keep in touch with some of them. Today’s session was very neat because it was the first time that I met in person with students since the spring of 2020. I’ve done a ton of virtual visits but it’s just not the same. Today’s group were 10th grade History and English classes — could it be more perfect? Discussed writing about victims of atrocities in a respectful way, how to do research on topics that have been ignored and suppressed, and why risking failure is the only way forward. My favourite question was: What do you consider your best book? My answer? Dance of the Banished, which I feel is very much under-rated, but also the story is so very relevant right now. In Turkey there is a monumentally important election going on and Erdogan, who is a Putin-wannabe is finally effectively being challenged by a combined opposition led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, whose heritage is Alevi.

And then icing on the cake: Jean Mills, a writer I very much admire, came to sit in on the session. She’s on the right, holding up her newest novel.

Fave Qs from Boyd W. Arthurs Middle School (MI)

I had the pleasure of visiting Arthurs MS in person in 2019 and so it was really neat to catch up with them again, albeit virtually. Those kids are now in high school but it was great to see the same wonderful educators and another crop of avid readers, including Alex, who described himself as my biggest fan. Also, they used the same Welcome Marsha sign! How cool is that?

Here are my fave questions from this session:

In Winterkill, Auntie Pawlina’s songbook is destroyed by the shockworkers. In real life, what was the fate of her collected songs?

Why were you banned by Russia?

When you write a novel, do you use an outline?

Why does Russia hate Ukraine?

Favorite questions from Eleanor Van Gelder (NJ) students

I like to leave lots of room for questions when presenting to students and this morning’s questions were superb! The topic was Winterkill, set during the Holodomor. Plus, I always talk about my own struggles as a kid, for example not reading til I was 9, and being bullied. Here are some of my favorite questions of the day:

If the Holodomor was such a huge event, how was it possible to hide it?

How did you deal with the bullying, and were you able to get it to stop?

Did you ever regret writing your first book about the Holodomor (Enough), seeing as you were subjected to so much hate because of it?

enough

The Seeds of Memory

Congratulations to Mateusz Świetlicki on the publication of this groundbreaking work. Ukrainian historical themes have been sadly absent in most popular literature, including literature for young people. This book is a comprehensive and perceptive examination of Canadian works tackling the topic, including my own.

Such an honor to have my Ukrainian-themed works so perceptively analyzed. I’m chuffed to dominate page 233!

Witnesses, Deniers and Bourgeois Troublemakers. The Holodomor and Ukrainian-Canadian Collaboration in Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s Winterkill (2022)

Thank you, Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki, for this thorough examination of Winterkill, particularly in terms of historical veracity and how the novel gives needed context to the Russian Federation’s current genocidal war against the Ukrainian nation and culture. This paper is a great resource for educators who are doing a novel study with Winterkill. Here’s the link.

Pic from Oct 13th HREC ED Webinar about Winterkill with Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki and Valentina Kuryliw