A wonderful whirlwind trip to Winnipeg and Selkirk during the first week of October. Saw so many great students, librarians, educators and reading clinicians!
Winnipeg school visits
Tag: Winnipeg
Kobzar’s Children
This unique anthology introduces new voices and a century of hidden stories.
The kobzars were the blind minstrels of Ukraine, who memorized the epic poems and stories of 100 generations. Traveling around the country, they stopped in towns and villages along the way, where they told their tales and were welcomed by all. Under Stalin’s regime, the kobzars were murdered. As the storytellers of Ukraine died, so too did their stories.
Kobzar’s Children is an anthology of short historical fiction, memoirs, and poems written about the Ukrainian immigrant experience. The stories span a century of history; and they contain stories of internment, homesteading, famine, displacement, concentration camps, and this new century’s Orange Revolution. Edited by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Kobzar’s Children is more than a collection; it is a moving social document that honors the tradition of the kobzars and revives memories once deliberately forgotten.
Continue reading “Kobzar’s Children”
MYRCA and Marsha
From here
October 2, 2014
By Colette
By Colette
On September 26th 2014,the MANITOBA YOUNG READER’S CHOICE AWARD was presented to Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch for her novel Making Bombs for Hitler. The award was presented at a special ceremony held at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, with hundreds of kids in attendnace. Marsha was selected by Manitoban tweens who had read at least 5 books from the nominated list.
Students and fans gathered to hear Marsha Continue reading “MYRCA and Marsha”
Friday in Winnipeg: Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Day!
What a thrill it was to see all the cars and buses pulling up to the theatre as I snuck inside unnoticed. Many kids were clutching copies of Making Bomb for Hitler, Stolen Child and Underground Soldier.
Here are Bairdmore students catching a few extra pages before heading up to the balcony!
The two young MCs were amazingly calm, cool and professional. I can’t imagine being so poised at their age!
When they announced me as this year’s winner, I got up from the audience and walked onto the stage. Here’s the awesome award:
I also got a cheque! I gave a short talk, reading, and kids asked questions…
… and then I was whisked away to the lobby to sign books. All of my books quickly sold out, and I found out later that one of the MCs did not get a copy because she was at the back of the line-up, so I gave one of the organizers my personal copy of Making Bombs for Hitler, signed to her.
Here are some of the students at the signing table:
On Thursday night, I had pre-signed 350 WWII trilogy bookmark as I had been told that there would be 315 kids in attendance. As it turned out, there were exactly 350 kids there. Eeek! The organizers made sure each student got exactly ONE signed bookmark. I also had some postcards for Dance of the Banished on hand and gave all of those out as well.
After all the buses left, the MYRCA committee treated me to a fabulous lunch at Chez Sophie on the bridge over top the river. Lovely view, great company and fantastic food!
After lunch, another kidcritter, Julie K, picked me up. We had coffee and a chat, and then Julie took me on a quick car tour of the city and dropped me off at the airport.
A whirlwind trip. I’m still on a high! Thank you Thin Air. Thank you, MYRCA!
Thin Air — Wednesday
The above pic is how I spent Wednesday morning. Here’s a write up about it. For this first session, I was given a Madonna-type headset with a microphone bud at my lips. I have no idea why it suddenly began to BOOM partway through the presentation. Quite disconcerting! That kink was smoothed over the rest of the week though, as I was given a lapel mike after that. Great groups of students with FABULOUS questions! Wonderful to interact with so many avid readers.
On Wednesday afternoon, I presented at Acadia School — again — so great to meet many avid readers and excited fans of my WWII trilogy. Teacher-librarian Jo-Anne Gibson emailed me afterwards: “My students are still talking about your presentation. I’ve had a lot of authors at Acadia and few have made such a lasting impact.”
From there I went to Winnipeg’s Children’s Literature Roundtable pizza party and author talk. Again, such a wonderful opportunity to meet many children, parents, educators and librarians who had read and loved Making Bombs for Hitler and other of my books. Truly, this is an author’s dream!
After the pizza party, I was whisked away to Holy Family Nursing Home for a presentation to the Alpha Omega Alumni Association. Interesting to present to students all day and finish with a presentation to adults, and not just any adults, but a group of people who had family connections to my trilogy. Many in the audience had personally lived through the times reflected in my books. Because of this, the questions were very interesting.
A couple of Alpha Omega members kept me company later in the evening as I had a very late dinner back at the hotel — Manitoba smoked goldeye is delish.