scholastic – Page 3 – Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Sophia School in Dubai

Olesia Elvey, the Ukrainian language and literature teacher at Sophia Ukrainian school in Dubai, contacted me a couple of months ago about the possibility of doing a virtual visit with her students, using my picture book Enough, which is set during the Holodomor, as part of their commemoration on Holodomor Memorial Day, which was yesterday. She also wanted her students to see the lighting of the candle in Kyiv at 4pm Kyiv time. It took a fair bit of coordination with three time zones and several languages for Olesia to arrange this but it all came off beautifully. The students read my works about the Holodomor that were available in Ukrainian, so that was Enough, and The Rings. They asked their questions in English, and their English was perfect. Their perspective was quite interesting. They wanted to know how and why I was so interested in Ukrainian topics, because to them, I was Canadian through and through. I don’t speak Ukrainian and not only was I born in Canada, but so were my parents. They were surprised that I could have such a deep tie with the country, but this is true of many Ukrainians in the diaspora. My heart is solid Ukrainian.

I told them that Ukrainians who were able to find refuge in Canada were like seeds of memory (Mateusz Świetlicki has written a brilliant book on this very topic). Those who stayed were often subjected to gulags, imprisonment, death, re-education, not to mention propaganda and disinformation. Stalin specifically targeted for extinction the storytellers, journalists, artists. How do you tell your stories when you’re dead?

The diaspora had challenges, but nothing like Ukrainians. Memories were shared and recorded and passed down. Memories of WWI, WWII, the Holodomor, as well as Ukrainian pioneer life in Canada, interwar life, DPs, and so on were all preserved. Many of my books are inspired by these experiences. I am deeply moved when Ukrainian read and respond to my books, and when they recognize their own history on the pages.

Here’s a local story about the event.

Here are some of the questions the students asked:

Dmytro and Alina:

.- Are there episodes in your stories (in particular, in the fairy tale “Enough”) that related to the history of your family?

Чи є у Ваших творах (зокрема, у казці “Досить”” ) епізоди, які пов’язані з історією Вашої родини?

Timur:

– Where did you get information about the Holodomor?

Де ви брали інформацію про Голодомор?

Tamara:

– How did the idea to write the story “Enough” come about?

Як виникла ідея написати твір “Досить”?

Marianna:

– Is the story about the grain being buried in graves true, actual history, or did you make it up? If true, how did you hear about it?

Чи ви чули справжню історію про те, що ховали збіжжя у могилах чи це Ви вигадали?

– How old is Marusia in your story? (Usually older girls have a hope chest). Якого віку приблизно Маруся у Вашій історії? (Вона має скриню для приданого, тож хочеться уявити, якого вона віку).

Maya:

– How big was the sack of grain that Marusia brought to the village on a stork? Approximately how many kilograms did the village need to survive? Наскільки великим був мішок із зерном, який Маруся привезла на лелеці в село. Скільки приблизно кілограмів потрібно було, щоб село вижило?

General

———–

Anjey:

– What was your childhood like? Яким було Ваше дитинство?

– What made you write stories related to war? Що спонукало вас пистати історії, повязані з війною?

Ameli:

– Which of your stories is your favorite and why? Яка з Ваших казок найулюбленіша?

– What encouraged you to write fairy tales? Що Вас спонукало писати казки?

Dmytro and Alina:

– In recent years, many Ukrainian children have become victims of Russian aggression, forced migrants in other countries, many children were actually kidnapped by Russia, and Ukraine is fighting for their return. Which of your books could become a source of support and hope for young Ukrainians and their parents?

Багато українських дітей в останні роки стали жертвами російської агресії, стали вимушеними переселенцями в інших країнах, багато дітей були фактично викрадені росією, і Україна бореться за їх повернення. Які Ваші твори могли б стати джерелом підтримки, надії для маленьких українців та їхніх батьків?

Timur:

– How has writing books changed your life?

Як написання книжки (книжок) змінило ваше життя?

Winterkill presentations with Hamilton students for Holodomor Memorial Day

On Friday, on the lead-up to the Nov 25th Holodomor Memorial Day, I had the honor to speak with 16 classes of 8th grade students in the morning and one class of high school students in the afternoon, all from the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. It’s a difficult subject to speak about but students asked perceptive and intelligent questions. Many thanks to HREC Ed for funding these sessions and also for their wonderful resource materials. Thank you, Betty Hicks, Evelin Niemiec, Paola Kontic and Mary Holadyk for coordinating and organizing.

Participating 8th grade students from St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary School

Ms. Cave’s class at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton.

Ottawa Christian schools

It was an honor to be the guest speaker at a gathering of 7th and 8th grade students from Ottawa Christian schools last Thursday. These senior students from 4 schools had selected my novel Don’t Tell the Nazis as their group read. Before my presentation, the classes did their presentations, giving their responses to the assembly. It was deeply moving for me as I watched from the background. There was poetry, flash action scenes. And one class made their own covers of the book.

Don’t Tell the Nazis is based on the real life experiences of Iryna Korpan’s mother and grandmother, Ukrainians who hid their Jewish friends under the kitchen floor in the hopes of saving them from the Nazi Holocaust-by-bullets. I told the students about the real people and the real circumstances.

The book is chillingly relevant, unfortunately.

Here are the students’ book cover creations.

Thrilled to be shortlisted for the Kobzar Book Award!

Visiting Deretchin School, October 20th

I have been corresponding with Cristofer Mattern, librarian-extraordinaire at Deretchin school for several years so when I finally got to present in person, it felt like coming home.

All of the presentations and lunches were in the library, which was a cozy and comfortable place to do them. I got so many heartfelt questions and responses from kids and educators — just wonderful!

Visiting Wilkerson Intermediate

When librarian Monica Wetzig brought me in to her library, one of the very first students I met was a girl who had come in to see me, but also one who Ms Wetzig had selected to eat lunch with me. It turned out the student was ecstatic. She had come into the library to give me a special gift because we shared a heritage — she was also Ukrainian — plus she loves my books. Ms Wetzig had no idea she was Ukrainian, just that she was an avid reader. It was especially sweet that she was selected for that reason! She brought me a Ukrainian flag and socks!

And she drew this flag for me, with a special message on the other side.

A whirlwind of presentations and lunch chats. A fantastic day!

Visiting Clark Intermediate

Jennifer C. Minichiello greeted me with a giant table of books to sign, and as the day progressed, the piles grew taller. I think there were even more than at Mitchell, but I managed to get them all signed over the day!

The cafetorium was big enough to hold half the 5th grade students at a time, so I did two back to back 45 minute presentations in the morning. Kudos to Jennifer who was able to get the students in and out so efficiently.

The middle of the day was a combo of book signings and having lunch with students (one of my favorite things to do!)

In the afternoon, it was time for 6th grade students, again, in two 45 minute sessions, back to back.

Here are the students who came up to the front to ask questions — and they were GREAT!

Visiting Dolly Vogel Intermediate

Tuesday October 17th was the day for my Dolly Vogel visit. Librarian Michelle Thomas expertly organized two assemblies and lunch visits with students, and I also got to do my all-time favorite thing, which was to give a writers’ workshop. The students in the workshop were FANTASTIC! Wonderful brainstorming session, followed by a very brief time to write, but every single participating student wrote up a storm and every student shared their writing with me. In fact, nearly all of the students read their works aloud to everyone in the workshop, which can be daunting, seeing as they were selected from all different classes. Here are some pics from the assemblies.

My own author copies of Stolen Child in Ukrainian!

It’s a dream come true to finally have one of my novels translated into Ukrainian and published in Ukraine. The translator is the brilliant Yulia Lyubka and the publisher is Books XXI. Stolen Child (Stolen Girl) holds a special place in my heart because it was written at the urging of my late mother-in-law, Lidia Skrypuch, who was a kid during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine and half of her classmates were victims of the Lebensborn program. That this translation is coming out now is sadly appropriate because the new Nazis, aka Putin’s Z army, are doing Lebensborn all over again: kidnapping Ukrainian kids, brainwashing them and placing them in Russian homes. My mother-in-law used to say that there was little difference between the Nazis and the Moskali: both were genocidal killers and thieves, but the Nazis had better boots.

This is a photo of my mother in law as a baby, before anyone in their family had an inkling of what the future would hold.

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.