Member Review
Canadian writers take so much for granted. Canada Council programs. Festivals and readings. Cheques arriving from the Public Lending Right Commission and Access Copyright. The Writers’ Trust of Canada Awards. Apparently, some of us believe that these things sprang unbidden from a naturally generous culture, and will always be with us. But they exist thanks mainly to the sustained creative efforts and constant vigilance of The Writers’ Union of Canada. We owe. We owe those who have gone before us, and we owe those who will come after.
Member Profile
Urve Tamberg
As the daughter of immigrant parents, Urve grew up in Toronto hearing stories about the history and culture of Estonia. She led a double life for most of her childhood. She was a normal Canadian student during the day, and an Estonian at night and on weekends. And where exactly was this tiny country that had been forgotten by the world for decades after the Soviets occupied it? It didn't appear on any maps at her school.
Urve didn’t realize that she wanted to be a writer so she attended the University of Toronto and graduated with a B.Sc. (Physical Therapy). After practising physiotherapy for a few years, she went back to school and completed a Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.). Her management career spanned both the public and private sectors of health care.
Finally, one day, while shopping at the local grocery store, she picked up a brochure for a writer’s class scheduled to start in a local church basement. At the first class, she shared a story (that since has not seen the light of day) but loved the course, and was hooked.
The little-known stories of the Estonian people and their struggle to survive during the Soviet and Nazi occupations during World War II inspired her first book, The Darkest Corner of the World ( September 2012).
She lives in Oakville, Ontario with her husband, three children, and a little black dog named Shimmer.
