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Memories and Memoir discussion at MAC in Parksville

Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 1 p.m. at the McMillan Arts Centre is Memories and Memoirs

Spend an afternoon with Carolyn D. Redl, author of A Canadian Childhood, and Marva K. Blackmore, author of Telling Your Story: A Guide to Writing Your Memoir Stories, on Jan. 31 for a Memories and Memoirs discussion.

Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 1 p.m. at the McMillan Arts Centre (133 McMillan St., Parksville) is Memories and Memoirs. Admission is free.

Redl and Blackmore will be discussing memoir and memoir writing. They will be reading from their books which will also be available for purchase.

A Canadian Childhood is Redl’s memoir of growing up on a Saskatchewan farm in the 1940s and 50s, capturing a way of life that is a vital part of Canada’s social history. It is a coming-of-age story of a girl with a restless spirit in an era when women’s roles were starting to resist restrictions. Redl is painfully aware that her father longs for a boy to help with farm work and while at school, she endures bullying. Throughout it all, looms the question of her future as she confronts the lure of the horizon.

Redl lives in San Pareil and now works full time as a writer. She received her doctorate in English from the University of Alberta. For more than 30 years, Redl has taught literature and memoir, travel and nature writing in universities in Alberta and B.C.

In Telling Your Story: A Guide to Writing Your Memoir Stories, Blackmore shares techniques she has learned from her many years as a professional storyteller to show readers how to craft stories for successful memoirs. Blackmore aims to help readers leave writen legacies of stories from their lives.

Blackmore, a Qualicum Beach residen, is a professional performing storyteller. She has told stories internationally and at venues across Canada. Blackmore is artistic director for Tales for the Telling, storytelling for adults at the MAC. A past-president of the Storytellers of Canada, Blackmore leads workshops in memoir writing using storytelling techniques at the MAC, including one that starts Feb. 13.

For more information, visit www.mcmillanartscentre.com.

— NEWS Staff/MAC