Saskatoon!

I flew in to Saskatoon on November 24th for a book event for Kobzar’s Children that evening at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada. This was an amazing visit for so many reasons. The Ukrainian Museum of Canada is a phenomenal place. There are so many unique Canadian and Ukrainian artifacts that I could spend days there.

The museum also owns a large collection of William Kurelek original paintings and the Kobzar book event was held in the William Kurelek room. I had never seen a Kurelek up close and I was mesmerized by the minute detail. One could see the texture of every blade of grass and each wrinkle on every face. I could spend days in that room alone! William Kurelek grew up just miles from my father’s childhood home and many of his paintings remind me of my father’s stories about his childhood.

Added to this excitement was the fact that several of the anthology contributors were able to participate in the book event. Danny Evanishen came in from BC because the museum was holding a Christmas Yarmarok the same weekend. Danny has a number of Ukrainian folk tale collections through his own Ethnic Enterprises company. And his wife Jean makes beautiful Trypillian style pottery.

I had the opportunity to meet Larry Warwaruk for the first time at this event and was able to catch up with Linda Mikolayenko, who braved through a snow storm to get to Saskatoon.

Each contributor did a brief reading and gave some anecdotes about writing. Larry told a hilarious story about his first book launch. Linda was in her expressive storytelling mode and Danny was, well, Danny!

 The room was packed to capacity. There were even people listening in from the hallway. The museum sold out of all the hardcovers of Kobzar’s Children and most of the softcovers.

Here’s a photo of the contributors who participated. From left to right, Danny, Linda, Larry and me:

Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war.

10 thoughts on “Saskatoon!”

    1. Hi Maggie,
      It was quite warm in the museum, thank goodness!

      While I was there, one of the artisans had these fabulous handcrafted one of a kind winter coats from Ukraine. I bought a car coat with a lovely orange on black pattern. Barb Attard had made me an orange scarf this summer and it matches the coat perfectly. It was also a warm combo over the bare arms!

  2. What a great time you had, Marsha! and you look great in that black top!
    I am curious, though, in your little icony picture for your blog, what are you holding? A wand?

    1. Hi Barb,

      Yes, it’s a wand. That’s because I run an online critique group for children’s writers in the Books and Writers Community, which is the oldest writing forum on the internet. It actually pre-dates the internet! I’ve been doing this for over a decade. My group is hidden from public view and people ask my permission to get in, so I wave my wand to let them in. There’s a link to the forum from the links section of my livejournal main page.

      Q&Q is doing a story on the crit group in their upcoming focus on children’s lit edition because so many of the people who participate have recently become published. How kewl is that?

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