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Aram’s Choice has been nominated for the Silver Birch Award!

Here’s a blurb about the reading program:

The Ontario Library Association Silver Birch Award™ reading program, now in its fourteenth year, is created and promoted to students and readers ages 8 to 11 in Grades 3 to 6.  The number of participants over the last few years has been outstanding.  Last year, over 200,000 students in 1000+ school and public libraries across Ontario participated in the Forest of Reading Award® Programs.

I was thrilled when I opened up the Hamilton Spectator this morning and read this lovely profile piece about Michael Buchok, the real person behind Natalia Buchok’s Kobzar’s Children story, “A Bar of Chocolate.” Check it out here.

Congratulations Natalia! Thank you, Lesley!!

The Armenian community of Cambridge was generous and welcoming to both Muriel Wood and myself on Sunday. Forty or fifty people were in attendance at the Armenian community centre and Muriel and I stayed til past 5pm, chatting and signing.

Muriel brought some signed numbered prints of the artwork from her book. I love Muriel’s art work and feel blessed to have been matched with her.

Here’s a lovely review of Aram’s Choice in the latest edition of CM. The painting featured in the review is one of my favourites.

I only have one cup of coffee each day, but it’s  a big cup — 14oz! I could drink coffee all day if my stomach and my nerves could stand it. Seeing as I only allow myself that one massive cup, I have been on the quest for a perfect cup of coffee and I think I’ve found it!

I ordered pure Kona coffee beans from Hawaii.

I grind 3 scoops fresh each morning.

I use reverse osmosis water and first let the coffee brew in a French press for three minutes and then pour it through a Melitta filter.

I drink it black.

Yum.

The Ukrainian Museum of Canada is hosting a launch for Kobzar’s Children on Friday November 24th at 7pm. This will coincide with their Christmas Yarmarok. A Yarmarok is like a big bazaar with fabulous vendors from all over. There will be lots of traditional Ukrainian artisans there. I am looking forward to going to this event not only to launch Kobzar’s Children in Saskatoon, but also to shop!

Danny Evanishen will also be there in a dual role. He and his lovely wife Jean have a booth at the Yarmarok. Danny has a fabulous variety of books that he has produced with his own publishing company, Ethnic Enterprises. Danny has done much to preserve Ukrainian pioneer stories and many other stories. I have a good collection of his books and am looking forward to picking up more.

Danny is also a contributor to Kobzar’s Children, so he will be on hand for the launch as well.

I am also hoping that our two Saskatchewan contributors, Linda Mikolayenko and Larry Warwaruk will also be in attendance to participate in the launch.

On Saturday November 25th at 9am, I will do a presentation about the real people behind my Ukrainian stories. This will be held right at the Museum.

check this out.

My sister Cheryl entered her preserves into the Norfolk Fair and she cleaned up

1st place for misc pickles (pickled pairs)

1st place for conserves (carrot cake)

3rd place for pears

3rd place for peach jam

3rd place for wine jelly

Just found out that there will be a story on Kobzar’s Children in the October 17th edition of the Hamilton Spectator! It will focus on the story behind Natalia Buchok’s story, A Bar of Chocolate. Natalia is originally from Hamilton, and her parents still live there. The story is a true one based on her father’s experience as a teen in a displaced person’s camp when he dressed up as a girl to go on a date with an American soldier in order to get a bar of chocolate.

Natalia and I will be signing copies of Kobzar’s Children on October 22nd at the Ancaster Chapters from noon until 2.

This coming Sunday, Muriel Wood and I will have an Aram’s Choice book event at the Armenian Community Centre in Cambridge at 2:30. Please come if you’re in the area! Muriel has made some numbered signed prints of a few of her paintings. I already pleaded with her to set aside the 1/1 copy of the painting entitled “Fleeing Turkey”. This painting is of Aram’s grandmother leading a donkey out of Turkey. Strapped to the back of the donkey are two baskets, each containing a child. On the back of the donkey is a third child. That painting has special significance for me because it is based on a real life recollection of the late Aram Aivaizian, an historian, writer, and genocide survivor who helped me tremendously with my initial Armenian genocide research.

Here’s where the Aram’s Choice event will be:

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, I did readings a four Toronto Public Libraries as part of the TPL’s Focus on Youth month.

The first library I went ot was Eatonville on Tuesday morning. I got there in good time and the students were all settled in and ready five minutes ahead of time, so I started early. The librarian held up a copy of Nobody’s Child and asked for the students to guess what year it was nominated for the Red Maple. The winning guess got to keep the book. It was pretty funny though, because none of the students was familiar with Nobody’s Child.

I began to do my presentation and then noticed that one of the girls in the front had a Cardinal Slipij shirt on. I asked her if she was from Cardinal Slipij school and she said yes, that all of the students were from there. That’s a Ukrainian school! No wonder they weren’t familiar with Nobody’s Child, one of my Armenian books. It turns out they were all familiar with Enough and Silver Threads and Hope’s War, so it was a great talk and the audience was very attentive. So attentive in fact, that I ended up talking for 70 minutes.

In the afternoon, I went to Riverdale Library in Chinatown. This is a beautiful old Carnegie library and the room that they had set up for me was a bright and airy circular room. These kids were also fantastic. Very attentive and asking great questions.

On Wednesday, my first library was Malvern in Scarborough. It was pouring rain when I left just after 8am. Why is it that people don’t know how to drive when it rains? The traffic jams started even before I got at far as the Lincoln Alexander Parkway and they didn’t let up til I was practically at the library. I didn’t get there until almost 11am for a 10:30 reading! I called to let the librarian know that I was stuck in traffic, and she said, “Don’t worry about it, we were all stuck in traffic today too!”

When I got there, the kids were waiting. They had been entertained with storytelling and chatting, but I felt really bad about making them wait so long for me. I started my presentation and about three minutes in, the fire alarm rang. A minute or so after that — just as I started presenting again — it rang again! Speak about a less than ideal presentation!

Yet the kids were fabulous. Very attentive and they asked great questions. I don’t think I would have been so patient in their situation.

In the afternoon, I went to Flemington Library. Instead of presenting to young adults, I did a storytelling session using Aram’s Choice with their ESL students. What an interesting group of people! There were new immigrants from China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Ukraine, Somalia and many other places. What they all had in common was the will to learn and an appreciation of Canada. I storytold Aram’s Choice and then we talked about what it meant to be a newcomer to Canada. I told them that the reason I write immigrant stories is because immigrants are heroes. It takes courage to up and leave everything familiar and to travel to a brand new country. The teacher asked me my opinion of how her students could assimilate more quickly. I said that the beauty of Canada is that we can all keep our cultural traditions and still be Canadian. When asked what one thing a new Canadian could do to feel more at home, I suggested trying something new once a week, whether it be food, or a free concert or going to some public event that has nothing to do with one’s homeland.

Thankfully, the drive home wasn’t nearly as bumper to bumper as it had been in the morning!

Here.