Barbara Roden
Free Press
Being nominated for a major literary award is a tremendous honour, but there can be a certain amount of frustration, as 108 Mile Ranch writer Kathleen Cook Waldron, nominated for the Silver Birch Award, can attest.
“They called me in the third week of September to let me know I’d been nominated, but I couldn’t tell anyone until Oct. 15,” she laughs.
“It was a pretty painful time. People would ask me what’s new, and I had to say ‘not much’.”
The Silver Birch Award is awarded annually by Tinlids, in association with the Ontario Library Association. Ten books, all aimed at students in grades 3-6, have been nominated this year, with Waldron’s Between Shadows one of them.
The book tells of a young boy named Ari who inherits the 160-acre property of his beloved grandfather; a property that has very special memories for Ari. So, when his father and aunt decide to explore the potential of selling it to developers, Ari finds himself having to speak up for the land he has grown to love.
“All my stories involve family issues and expectations,” says Waldron.
“Kids do experience losses, and the book gets them talking about it. It gives them an opportunity to bring up their own experiences.”
Students will read, and then vote on, the nominated works beginning in the new year, with the winner announced on May 18, 2016 in Toronto. Waldron will be attending the event, and participated in readings and a panel.
Between Shadows is available at Nuthatch Books in 100 Mile House, as well as through Amazon and Chapters, and Waldron is happy to sign copies. She can be contacted via her website at www.kathleencookwaldron.com.
“If you keep doing something for long enough you get noticed,” she says of the nomination.
“I’m pretty blown away by it. And it shows that if you find something you really love doing, you don’t have to move some place big to do it.”
