Karen Emilson Writes

Sharing the news of another Manitoba writer. Congratulations Louella Lester!

This review of Anna's life story pretty much says it all.

This is a message to everyone from the woman whose story I helped write, "My Every Breath." Her book is available through McNally Robinson, Tergesens, some Chapters/Indigo stores, and through Amazon.

So sorry to hear about Roger's passing. He was my first editor but such a modest man, I had no idea his resume was this impressive. It's all here (and perfectly edited of course) written in his own words.

There is a Unitarian church in Gimli. As the first church built (1904-05 after four of Manitoba’s Icelandic congregations seceded from the Lutheran Synod, this... structure became the Mother Church of the Unitarian movement in Western Canada, as well as an institution of central importance to the Icelandic community. The church holds services during the summer. However, when it isn’t holding services it becomes the A-Spire theatre. It also becomes a venue for the book launches and readings that Lorna Tergesen of Tergesen’s bookstore arranges. If you have some Icelandic background and are having a book published, it’s a good place to read. I was having my latest novel, In Valhalla’s Shadows launched, Anita Daher was having her latest book, Forgetting How To Breathe, launched and Michael Kaan was launching his novel, Water Beetles. That’s how I met Anita. I hadn’t thought of Anita as Icelandic but her latest book was set just outside Gimli and as part of the plot the main character, a young girl, who is a foster child and having a terrible time, stumbles on a farm with horses. The people who own the farm are of Icelandic background. Kindness and horses rescue her from becoming one of those lost children in North Winnipeg or East Vancouver. Then someone mentioned that Anita had only discovered her Icelandic background a short time ago. We should have suspected. Take a look at the books she’s had published since 2002. Flight from Big Tangle. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2002. Flight from Bear Canyon. Victoria, BC: Orca, 2004. Racing for Diamonds. Orca, 2007 Spider's Song. Penguin, 2007 Two Foot Punch. Orca, 2007 Poachers in the Pingos. Orca, 2008 On the Trail of the Bushman. Orca, 2009 The Wilderness Cure. Stabenfeldt International, 2012 Wager the Wonder Horse. Stabenfeldt International, 2013 The Hustle. Stabenfeldt International, 2013 Itty Bitty Bits. Peanut Butter Press, 2013 Wonder Horse. Rebelight Publishing, 2015 Forgetting How to Breathe. Yellow Dog, 2018 You Don't Have to Die in the End. Yellow Dog, 2020 And look at these awards. John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, 2007 Finalist, CBC Short Story Prize for Mime, 2017 Finalist, IODE Violet Downey Book Award for Forgetting How to Breathe, 2019 She’s also an actress and currently she’s the Chair of the Writers Union of Canada. When I asked her about her discovery of her Icelandic background, she said this I’ve always known that my paternal grandmother’s family came from Iceland, but that was it. My father had never followed or delved into family stories. He remembered an aunt who would travel to Iceland each year to visit relatives, and a table that had come from Iceland, though he didn’t know how. That was it. His great grandparents had settled in a town in Simcoe County, ON called Penetanguishene, and the generations would gather at a cottage in close by Triple Bay. The cottage is now gone, but the beach where it used to be is called Magnus Beach, named after my great-greats, Guðný Jónsdóttir and Magnús Magnússon, anglicized to Gudny and John Magnus when they landed in Canada. A note: my father only knew their anglicized names, as did I until until my exploration began. When I began writing Forgetting How to Breathe, I set it near Gimli simply because I loved the community, not because I felt a strong connection to my Icelandic ancestry. Not then. I included Guðný’s name in the story as tribute, and gave my foster family Icelandic ancestry perhaps out of a wish for connection. After the book was finished and in those months between layout and publication I visited photographer Leif Norman for new headshots. I knew him a little from various arts events, and loved that he was posting on Facebook his discoveries concerning his own Icelandic ancestry. It felt right to go to him. During our session I told him about my new book, and my great great grandparents from Iceland. I told him that I knew little about them, not when they arrived in Canada, nor if they were married in Iceland, or if they’d met and married after arriving in Canada. Leif smiled and asked if I knew approximately when they arrived in Canada. I told him the late 1800s. He smiled again and told me were probably cousins. I’d thought he was joking, but the very next day, after I’d given him their birth and death dates, he emailed a screen shot from a family tree showing how we were 11th cousins. He told me their birth names, Guðný Jónsdóttir and Magnús Magnússon, that they were together before leaving Iceland, and emigrated in 1882 on the Camoens. He even showed me a photo of the ship leaving harbour. My mind was blownand my life changed. It did. She went to Iceland. So there you are. Another member of the Icelandic Canadian literary society. If you have children and grandchildren check her list of books for ones suitable for their age. Order them from Tergesen’s bookstore in Gimli or McNally Robinson in Winnipeg or from your local bookstore. If the situation is desperate, you can order from Amazon.ca.

Celebrating I Read Canadian day, this is one of the bookshelves in my office. Lots of fabulous reading here by some of Canada’s best. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Katherena Vermette; spent a week in a writing workshop with Nino Ricci, and Andrew Davidson’s aunt was a beta reader for Be Still the Water. But one of the highlights of my writing life was the moment at the 2017 Manitoba Book Awards when I introduced myself to the great David Arnason and he said, I know who you are.