Writers Union Member. Fiction & NF, 2X Silver Birch winner, 2x Red Cedar Winner, Yellow Cedar Winner. Multi awards. All ages. $400 plus HST for 1 session, $650 for 2, $900 for 3 and $1100 for 4, + travel (.68 cents per kilometer, round-trip for SW ON).
Virtual Visits: $300 plus HST, for one session, 20-60 minutes, $200 for each additional session on the same day.
Marsha is an experienced and passionate international speaker who tailors each presentation to the group in front of her. She can do up to four presentations in the same school or area in a day. As the author of picture books, middle grade novels, narrative non-fiction and YA novels, she routinely presents to an entire school over the course of a day. She also loves speaking to adult groups and she loves loves loves giving writing workshops.
Presentations by grade
Marsha is an extremely flexible presenter. No two groups are ever the same and no two of her presentations are ever the same. She likes to have a conversation with the audience rather than stand up there like a talking head.
For most presentations, she works in why she thought kids’ books were evil when she was a kid herself, and how she finally learned to read. Marsha talks about why she writes on topics that have been ignored by others and why she considers herself a librarian/detective. She also explains how she became a princess if asked.
Here is an example of her themes by grade:
JK to 1: two 30 minute storytelling sessions for the price of one full session ($400+HST) using When Mama Goes To Work.
2 to 4: 45 to 60 minutes: Storytelling session plus Q&A on topic/book of your choice. Current favourites include Sky of Bombs Sky of Stars, Too Young to Escape and Adrift at Sea (plunging into the shoes of a war refugee) but she is happy to present her older books as well. (Enough, Silver Threads, Airlift and Aram books)
4 to 8: The majority of Marsha’s books are for this age group. 45 to 60 minutes. Includes how she transformed herself from a non-reader into a writer, how she does research, historical background on the books of your choice. Writing tips and Q&A are worked in.
WWII books:
Traitors Among Us, Trapped in Hitler’s Web, Don’t Tell the Nazis: Based on the true story of a Ukrainian girl and her mother who hid three Jewish friends under their kitchen floor during the Holocaust: female empowerment, racism, antisemitism, Holocaust, WWII history, bravery, facing daunting odds.
Stolen Girl/Making Bombs For Hitler/The War Below: bullying, World War II, immigration, coming to Canada, slavery, racism. Living in the 1940s and 1950s.
Dear Canada: Prisoners in the Promised Land: WWI, WWI internment operations in Canada, Quebec, immigration, bullying, racism, living in 1914.
Sky of Bombs Sky of Stars: Vietnam war, fall of Saigon, orphans, polio, hospitals, living with a disability, English as a second language, immigration, racism, living in 1975.
Too Young to Escape, Adrift at Sea: Marsha can also give an age appropriate presentation/discussion on the current refugee crisis and the parallels with the 1981 Vietnamese Boat Person refugee crises.
7 to 12: Marsha has five YA novels, her Armenian Genocide trilogy, The Hunger/Nobody’s Child/Daughter of War, plus a stand-alone WWII novel, Hope’s War, and her Bilson-winning WWI novel, Dance of the Banished.
Maximum group sizes for presentations: 45 for JK to 3. 100+ for everyone else.
Writing Workshops work best with 16 or so participants
Writing Workshop Topics:
Teaching fun self-editing techniques to students in grades 4 to 12.
How to create an awesome villain.
How to assist gifted student writers (of any age) without tearing your hair out in frustration.
Techniques for punching through writer’s block.
Grade 12 Writers’ Craft personal memoir writing
Other topics upon request.
All Venues, library preferred. Equipment required: A glass of water, lunch (egg salad sandwich on brown bread) if she’s staying for the day. A table to spread her things out on. A microphone for larger groups or in the gym, or if the room acoustics are questionable. A screen and projector for power-point.
Please note: Her surname is pronounced SKRIPP-ick.