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Marsha Skrypuch

Photo: Orest Skrypuch 2021

Marsha didn't learn to read until she was nine. At ten, she taught herself how to read with Dicken's Oliver Twist. After high school, Marsha earned an honours degree in English at UWO. In 1978, she took a job with an industrial supplier, becoming the first woman in Canada to be an industrial sales rep. She married Orest Skrypuch in 1981, and in 1982, she returned to UWO and got her Master of Library Science degree. She worked as a librarian for Agriculture Canada until 1984 when her son Neil was born. Marsha invented a washable nursing pad that was so successful it was sold across Canada and in Europe for over a decade. In 1996 Marsha's first book, Silver Threads was published. All of Marsha's 20+ books are about the young people in the midst of war and displacement.
 

E-mail: c/o Writers' Union of Canada
Phone number:
c/o Writers' Union of Canada

Publications

Trapped In Hitler's Web. Scholastic, 2020
Sky of Bombs, Sky of Stars. Pajama Press, 2020
Too Young to Escape. Pajama Press, 2018
Don't Tell The Enemy. Scholastic Canada, 2017
Adrift At Sea: A Vietnamese Child's Story of Survival. Pajama Press, 2016
Underground Soldier. Scholastic Canada, 2014
Dance of the Banished . Pajama Press, 2014
The Best Gifts. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1998/2013
When Mama Goes to Work. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013
Making Bombs For Hitler. Scholastic, 2012
One Step At A Time. Pajama Press, 2012
Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue From War. Pajama Press, 2011
Stolen Child. Scholastic, 2010
Call Me Aram. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008
Daughter of War. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008
Prisoners in the Promised Land: Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk, Spirit Lake Quebec, 1914. Scholastic (Dear Canada), 2007
Kobzar's Children: a century of untold Ukrainian stories. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006.
Aram's Choice. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006.
Silver Threads. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2004/1996
Nobody's Child. Toronto: Dundurn, 2003.
Enough. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2001
Hope's War. Dundurn, 2001
The Hunger. Dundurn, 1999

Awards

Winner, Red Cedar non-fiction Award for Too Young to Escape, 2020
Winner, Yellow Cedar Award for Too Young to Escape, 2020
Winner: Golden Oak Award for Adrift at Sea, 2018
Winner: Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People for Dance of the Banished, 2015
Winner: Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award for Making Bombs for Hitler, 2014
Wnner: Silver Birch non-fiction for One Step At A Time, 2014
Winner: Silver Birch Fiction for Making Bombs for Hitler, 2013
Winner: Red Cedar Information Book Award for Last Airlift, 2013
The Order of Princess Olha for body of work, 2008
Best Book of the Year for Stolen Child, 2010
OLA Best Bets for Last Airlift, 2011
Red Cedar nomination for Last Airlift, 2012
Starred Best Book, Children's Book Centre for Stolen Child, 2011
CLA Children's Book of the Year nomination for Stolen Child, 2010
OLA Best Bet for Stolen Child, 2010
Diamond Willow nomination for Stolen Child, 2011
Golden Oak nomination for Stolen Child, 2011
SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Stolen Child, 2011
Manitoba Young Readers' Choie Honour Book for Stolen Child, 2012
Manitoba Young Readers' Choice award nomination for Hope's War, 2003
Saskatchewan Snow Willow nomination for Hope's War, 2003
Ontario Red Maple nomination for Nobody's Child, 2005
Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination for Nobody's Child, 2005
Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination for Hope's War, 2004
CLA Book of the Year nomination for Aram's Choice, 2007
Resource Links Best Books for Aram's Choice, 2006
Silver Birch Express nomination for Aram's Choice, 2007
ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2001" in picture book category for Enough, 2001.
ResourceLinks "Best of the Best 2004" in novel category for Nobody's Child, 2004.
Nominated, Ontario Red Maple Award for Nobody's Child, 2005.
Nominated, BC Stellar Award for Nobody's Child, 2006.
Links:
Website
http://www.calla.com
Eligible for National Public Readings Program :
Yes

WITS

Presentation Description

Readings: 60 minutes: interactive reading plus how a non-reader became an author. Turning failure into success with perseverence. Students are inspired by her anecdotes.

Presentation Length:
45 to 60 min.
Genre:
YA, middle-grade novels, picture books.
Grades:
k to adult
Audience size:
negotiable
Workshop Description:

Workshops: Marsha loves helping young writers develop their own works-in-progress. Topics: writing longer fiction, self-editing, developing characters/scenes. Making great bad guys, WWI, WWII, literacy, bullying, eating disorders, multiculturalism, genocide.

Northern OAC WITS:
Yes
One session:
$400
Two sessions:
$650
Three sessions:
$900
Four sessions:
$1100
One session:
$250
Two sessions:
$500
Three sessions:
$700
Four sessions:
$900
GST:
GST applicable