BC author, 94, publishes 2nd novel based on memoirs
Announcement by Arleigh Fanning
Kory Shillam
Kory Shillam has always been a writer. Daughter of William Albert Tutte, the front page editor of the Vancouver Sun during the Second World War, she came by her love of the written word honestly. As one of her six daughters, I have many memories of my mum taking courses and sitting at her desk writing stories.
In addition to crafting wonderful tales for children, and poetry and articles for magazines, she wrote two books on our family history based on twenty years of research. People Like Us Are We, a history of my father’s family, goes all the way back to the 1600s. I remember searching for her one day while she was at work on one of these histories, calling to her and hearing from the depths of the basement, “I’m down here with the dead!” — followed by laughter. Our family has been blessed with the legacy of these two books. I hug myself every time I pick one of them up to read a date, a name or an event about which I wouldn’t otherwise have known.
Monday, February 13th, 2012
Writing “Home First: A Memoir in Voices”
Guest Post by Susan Siddeley
Susan Siddeley finds a tranquil writing place following my memoir workshops for her Los Parronales Writers' Retreat.
I love writing: fashioning sentences, crafting a tale, getting feedback. A nightmare for me is to be stranded in a queue with no pen or paper, where nothing is moving, yet life suddenly makes sense.
Backing sixpenny notebooks with brown paper and scribbling about blackbirds, bluebells, and earwigs when I was eight was the start of a lifelong urge to write. The need to explain and collect — partly lest I forget — became a driving force. Later, this meant striving for the English teacher’s approval, turning the loss of three gloves and two boyfriends in as many days into comedy and noting how dads only became animated talking about big ends and gaskets.
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Story in “Jamaican voice” garners U.K. prize
Susan Siddeley’s humorous ”After You, Mr. Mayor” has won first prize in a British contest, the first-annual Malton Literature Festival short story competition. The tale is based on her memory of an incident that occurred years ago while she was living in Jamaica. She is particularly pleased with the win because the story presented a unique challenge: writing in a “Jamaican voice.”
Susan currently divides her time between residences in Toronto, Canada, and Santiago, Chile, where for more than a decade she has been coordinator of Los Parronales Writers’ Retreats. She completed “After You, Mr. Mayor” during writers’ workshops she invited me to lead at Los Parronales in February 2010.
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Sharing Personal Stories Enriches Business Writing
♦
By Nina Spencer, Guest Blogger
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!
—Goethe
Some people are professional writers that cross over to professional speaking, while others are speakers that cross over to writing. I’m the latter. To this day I don’t really feel like a writer, let alone a memoirist, but I guess I am. This is how my writing “career”—and all that it’s helped me accomplish—came to pass.
Friday, January 14th, 2011
“Djinxed” in Indonesia: Ellen Hawkins’s new memoir
Ellen Hawkins, a Canadian author residing in Santiago, Chile, announces the publication of her memoir Djinxed. Ellen participated in my workshop series at Los Parronales Writers’ Retreat in Santiago, in February 2010. Here, in her own words, is some intriguing background on her book:
When my husband and I and our two small children arrived in Indonesia in 1971 this populous Muslim country was gradually recovering from the social and political upheaval that had brought Suharto to power five years earlier. Patchy infrastructure, widespread poverty and colossal heat were daily reminders that we were a long way from home.
Monday, October 18th, 2010
Mary Judith Ress’s "Blood Flowers" honours sisters killed in 1980 in El Salvador
Mary Judith Ress is pleased to announce the publication of her novel Blood Flowers. Her publisher iUniverse has designated it an ”Editors’ Choice.” The book is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNobel.com.
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
