Marsha Skrypuch was mislabelled as "slow" in school and didn't learn how to read until she was in grade 4 for the second time. In defiance of her label, when she finally did learn to read, she chose the thickest book in the children's section of the Brantford Public Library -- Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens. Reading that novel was a turning point in her life: not only did she become a voracious reader, but she set herself the goal of becoming a writer one day. 

She received an Honours BA in English from the University of Western Ontario. As soon as her fourth year of university was finished, she and her friend Natalie backpacked across Europe for three months. 

Arriving home broke, she accepted the first decent job she was offered -- selling industrial supplies. "Understanding the Cleveland Tool Guide was a cinch after Chaucer," she explains. 

For four years, Marsha was the only female industrial sales rep in Canada. She sold hand tools, cutting tools, abrasives, steel, and materials handling equipment to factories and machine shops throughout southwestern Ontario. While the money was good, after four years, Marsha got tired of being asked every day, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a job like this?" 

She also realized that what she enjoyed most about the job was solving the information needs of her clients. A career change was in order. Marsha went back to university to take her Master of Library Science degree. 

It was while at library school that Marsha developed her passion for children's literature. 

Marsha worked for Agriculture Canada as a librarian while she was taking her degree and upon graduation was given the position of Librarian, Delhi Research Station. She resigned upon the birth of her child. 

Marsha was a full-time Mom for a year. Then she started writing book reviews and freelance articles. 

Marsha turned her hand to fiction in 1992, receiving well over 100 rejection slips in the process. In 1994, her picture book, Silver Threads, was accepted for publication. It was published in 1996.

Marsha has a passion for writing about the bits of history that have been shoved under the carpet. As of 2009, she has written five novels set during the Armenian genocide -- more than any other author in the English speaking world. She also wrote Enough, the first commercially published children's book set during the Holodomor (Stalin-induced famine in Ukraine). Enough had been turned down by many publishers who considered the topic too "controversial" for children, but it was published in 2000 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside and is still popular nine years later. When it came out, Marsha received hate mail and death threats. In May 2008, President Victor Yuschchenko of Ukraine bestowed upon Marsha the Order of Princess Olha for her championing of the Holodomor. That same week, MP James Bezan's private member's bill C-459 was unanimously passed. This Bill establishes a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day and recognizes the Holodomor as an act of genocide.

For more information on Marsha see the lengthy interview with Professor David Jenkinson on the University of Manitoba Site. Monique Polak did a more recent interview for CANSCAIP News, and it can be read here.