Author Skrypuch researches latest book in Kap

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Posted By Kevin Anderson

Posted 1 month ago

Canadian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch was in Kapuskasing recently, researching her latest project – a young-adult book about the internment of Turks in the camps located in Kapuskasing during the first World War.

"They were rounded up on trumped-up charges revolving around some theory they were conspiring to blow up the post office in Brantford," she said. "They were the first detainees at the camps here when they arrived in December of 1914."

Asked if her voyage to the Model Town had bore any fruit, Ms. Skrypuch said the discovery of various artifacts, documents and photographs from the era added some much needed pieces to the historical puzzle.

"It's amazing how abundantly available information about that time and subject matter is," she commented. "The nice thing is, once you start digging into this information everything just starts to reveal itself."

Mislabelled as "slow" in school Ms. Skrypuch didn't learn how to read until she was in Gr. 4 for the second time. In defiance of her label, when she finally did learn to read, she chose the thickest book in the children's section of the Brantford Public Library -- Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens. Reading that novel was a turning point in her life: not only did she become a voracious reader, but she set herself the goal of becoming a writer one day.

She received an Honours BA in English from the University of Western Ontario. After several years as an industrial sales rep, a career change was in order. Marsha went back to university to take her Master of Library Science degree. It was while at library school that Marsha developed her passion for children's literature.

Marsha worked for Agriculture Canada as a librarian while she was taking her degree and upon graduation was given the position of Librarian, Delhi Research Station. She resigned upon the birth of her child.

Marsha was a full-time Mom for a year. Then she started writing book reviews and freelance articles.

Marsha turned her hand to fiction in 1992, receiving well over 100 rejection slips in the process. In 1994, her picture book, Silver Threads, was accepted for publication. It was published in 1996.

Marsha has a passion for writing about the bits of history that have been shoved under the carpet. As of 2009, she has written five novels set during the Armenian genocide -- more than any other author in the English speaking world. She also wrote Enough, the first commercially published children's book set during the Holodomor (Stalin-induced famine in Ukraine).

Enough had been turned down by many publishers who considered the topic too "controversial" for children, but it was published in 2000 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside and is still popular nine years later. When it came out, Marsha received hate mail and death threats. In May 2008, President Victor Yuschchenko of Ukraine bestowed upon Marsha the Order of Princess Olha for her championing of the Holodomor.

That same week, MP James Bezan's private member's bill C-459 was unanimously passed. This Bill establishes a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day and recognizes the Holodomor as an act of genocide.

This forthcoming novel is expected to be published in spring of 2011 and will be available at the Ron Morel Museum in Kapuskasing.

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