Marsha Skrypuch Brings History to Life for Young Readers

Nadia Prokopchuk, Ukrainian Education Consultant, Ministry of Education

Over 250 Saskatchewan students were captivated and inspired after hearing Marsha Skrypuch speak about her latest publication Prisoners in the Promised Land during her visit to our province on November 27-30, 2007. The book is part of Scholastic’s Dear Canada Series and is the diary of a young Ukrainian girl, Anya Soloniuk, whose family was interned at the Spirit Lake Internment Camp in Quebec in 1914.

Marsha’s previous books, including Enough, Silver Threads and Hope’s War have been well-received in Saskatchewan classrooms. Her research on three major themes, the Ukrainian Holodomor (Famine-Genocide), Armenian Genocide and Ukrainian-Canadian Internment, has been conducted with meticulous attention to detail. Through fictional characters and situations based on actual events, Marsha has uncovered “flakes of history that have been shoved under the carpet”. After reading Marsha’s skilful treatment of the themes in her writing, students are interested in researching these difficult historic topics in more depth.

Schools which hosted Marsha’s 2007 visit were from three locations in Saskatchewan:

Regina -- Miller High School Ukrainian Program
Saskatoon -- Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School; Bethlehem Catholic High School
Prince Albert -- St. Frances Elementary School; St. Mary’s High School

In addition, students at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School participated in a Writers’ Workshop conducted by Marsha. Students wrote fictional stories based on the tragic events of the Holodomor (Famine-Genocide) of 1932-33, when millions of people were starved to death in an artificial famine created by Stalin’s Soviet government.

Through her writing workshops, Marsha tries to encourage young writers to imagine -- to really imagine -- what it would have been like to live through those difficult times. She guides students through several phases of writing, editing and revising. Students’ attitudes toward writing change after experiencing Marsha’s workshop, which is filled with skilful, gentle guidance and positive energy.

Saskatchewan school visits were made possible through the support and financial assistance of the Saskatchewan Teachers of Ukrainian, the Writers’ Union of Canada and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress -- Saskatchewan Provincial Council.

Photos from the writers workshop at Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School

	Marsha and Gr. 7/8 teacher, Cathy Schabel