CANSCAIP Members
 Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Author
Brantford Ontario
Email: marsha@calla.com
Web: http://www.calla.com
Born: December 12, 1954. Brantford, Ontario
Married to Orest, mother of Neil, 12 year old miniature Schnauzer's name is Pepper.
Biography
Marsha tricked her teachers into thinking she knew how to read until it all caught up with her in grade 4 when she failed the provincial reading exam. Adding insult to injury, they made her repeat the whole year. As the tallest and oldest kid in the class, she didn't want to be seen learning to read with little skinny books and she was too proud to ask for help, so she taught herself how to read by taking out the fattest book in the children's section of the Brantford Public Library -- Oliver Twist. She kept on renewing it for a whole year.
Reading that book was a turning point in her life. She decided that she loved reading big fat fiction, and wanted to write it too. She devoured novels by the gallon.
Her grade 10 English teacher sent her to the vice principal's office because she asked too many questions in class. She was placed in enriched English as punishment and loved every minute of it. She took a degree in English at the University of Western Ontario. She needed a language option to complete her degree but she wasn't very good in French so she stupidly signed up for Russian. Everyone else in Russian class was a native speaker and Marsha didn't even know the alphabet. She made herself flash cards and practiced each morning on the bus as she went to school. She got the lowest mark in the class, but she did pass!
Upon graduating, she backpacked around Europe, and then took the first job she could get when she got home: selling industrial supplies. She was the first woman in Canada to sell industrial supplies. Marsha taught herself how to design grinding wheels, recommend drills and so on.
While selling industrial supplies was interesting, Marsha never forgot her first dream, which was to become an author. She went back to school and got her Master's degree in library science, figuring this would help her with research techniques. She worked as a librarian for a brief time, but then turned her hand to writing.
After 100 rejections, her first book was published in 1996. Her ninth book is coming out in 2007.
Published Works
Call Me Aram, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2009
Daughter of War, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008
Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk, Scholastic Dear Canada, 2007
Aram's Choice, illustrated by Muriel Wood, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006
Kobzar's Children: A Century of Untold Ukrainian Stories, anthology edited and stories selected by Marsha Skrypuch, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006
Silver Threads, illustrated by Michael Martchenko, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2004
Nobody's Child, Dundurn, 2003 (young adult novel)
The Hunger, new edition, Dundurn, 2002 (young adult novel)
Hope's War, Dundurn, 2001 (young adult novel)
Enough, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2000 (picture book)
The Hunger, Dundurn, 1999 (young adult novel)
The Best Gifts, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1998, (picture book)
Silver Threads, Penguin, 1996, (picture book)
Performances
Marsha does more than 100 school and library presentations each year. Here are some highlights:
Keynote speaker, Calgary Young Writers' Conference, 2009
Humber Summer School for Writers, instructor, 2007 & 2009
Keynote speaker, Weaving Words Conference, Lethbridge AB, 2006
Launched Brantford Summer Writing Workshops, 2006
Keynote speaker, Weaving Words Conference, Lethbridge AB, 2006
Panel speaker, Prairie Horizons, Lumsden SK, 2005
Eden Mills Literary Festival, Eden Mills, ON 2005
Packaging Your Imagination, CANSCAIP, Toronto, ON 2004
Writer in Residence, St. John's Kilmarnock School, 2004-5
Presented a paper at the Fun of Reading Conference in June 2003
Taught at the Maritime Writers' Workshop in July 2003
Presented at the Surrey International Writers' Conference in October 2002.
Awards
2009 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year list for Daughter of War
2009 USBBY Outstanding International Book for Daughter of War
2009 YALSA BBYA shortlist for Daughter of War
2009 Christian High School Book Club selection for Daughter of War
2009 White Pine Award nomination for Daughter of War
2008 ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2008" in YA Book category for Daughter of War
2008 OLA Best Bets honourable mention for Daughter of War
2008 Order of Princess Olha, the highest honour bestowed on citizens of foreign countries, by Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, for her writing on the Holodomor. In particular, her book, Enough.
2007 OLA Best Bet Honourable Mention for Prisoners in the Promised Land
2006 ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2006" in Children's Book category for Aram's Choice
2008 Ontario Golden Oak Award nomination for Aram's Choice
2007 Ontario Silver Birch Award nomination for Aram's Choice
2007 Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year shortlist for Aram's Choice
2006 Named Canadian Ukrainian Woman of Influence by the World Congress of Ukrainian Women's Organizations
2006 BC Stellar Award nomination for Nobody's Child
2005 Ontario Red Maple Award nomination for Nobody's Child
2005 Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination for Nobody's Child
2004 ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2004" in novel category for Nobody's Child
2004 CCBC's Our Choice Award for Nobody's Child
2004 Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination for Hope's War
2004 Saskatchewan Snow Willow nomination for Hope's War
2003, Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award nomination for Hope's War
2002, Nominated for the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize for her body of
work and mentorship of other writers
2002, Selected to tour Manitoba for CCBC's BookWeek
2002, CCBC's Our Choice Award for Hope's War
2001, ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2001" in picture book category
for Enough
2001, CCBC's Our Choice Award for Enough
2000, CCBC's Our Choice Award for The Hunger
1999, Taras Shevchenko for Silver Threads
1996, Taras Shevchenko
1996, OLA Best Bets
1996, Amelia Francis/Howard Gibbon Award shortlist
Other Memberships
TWUC
Canadian Coalition for School Libraries
Ontario Coalition for School Libraries
The Writers' Union of Canada
Canadian Library Association
Brant Family Literacy Committee
Brantford Book Camp organizing committee
Available For
Suggested workshops:
A picture book from start to finish
I read portions of my rough drafts and show them how many changes I had to make. I also show them early artwork and let them compare it with the published artwork. I really enjoy regaling the kids with stories of mistakes.
Enough, a folk tale historical picture book
What is real, and what is fake? This approach works with grades k to 3. Before I do the reading, we talk about what "fiction" is and what a folk tale is, and what "history" is, and then I set them to the task of stopping me everytime I read a part of the story that is "fake". Also, throughout this kind of reading, I ask the audience questions. If they're not familiar with the story, I get them to guess what's going to happen before I turn the page.
YOUR writing!
In this presentation, I talk about my own books and my writing, but in terms of challenge and struggle. I didn't learn to read until I was almost nine, and I failed grade 4. I show them my report card, my rejection letters, and so on. I also talk about rewriting and editing. I encourage students to interupt me as frequently as possible, because I want them to ask questions, and I want them to tell me about their writing. I like to know what part of a story they find the most difficult to write, and how many times they revise, and how they know when a story is finished. I give some quick and dirty writing and editing tips that they can use in their own story writing or school assignments.
Older kids
Kids in grades 6,7 and 8 and also high school respond best to a different kind of presentation. With older students, I concentrate on my young adult novels. First, I give them a bare outline of one of my novels, and then I open up for questions. Depending on the group, sometimes they want to find out about how they would go about getting published. Other times, they just want to know what it's like to be a writer. Other times, they're interested in the history, so I talk about that. Other times, they're interested in how I do research, so I talk about that.
I also do "issues" presentations. For example, in The Hunger, Paula struggles with an eating disorder. This is an issue that many kids have heard about, but that they don't understand. When they read The Hunger, they're given the opportunity to step into the shoes of Paula and experience her descent into self-destruction. My novel has some rather graphic scenes of binging and purging, and also of the consequences -- near-death. My novel doesn't judge. Instead it follows Paula on her journey and lets the reader identify with her struggles.
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