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How One Book Can Change a Child's Life | Anna Rosner · Books4Guys

• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's incredible.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I was I was looking at your background.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I saw where you have taught French for a long time.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I mean you do a lot of different things, Anna.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking through some of the stuff that you do, and just I I know there's some indigenous work there as well, which I was looking at on on I want you to dive into that a little bit later because I saw where a lot of books have been given away, which is something that we're doing a lot of here at Books for Guys, is trying to encourage reading and get more books into more hands.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought that was really, really cool.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: But Anna, you've written you've written a few books and you've written short stories, and I've been introduced to you from your newest book, and I want to make sure I say it because it just came out this year, is uh last year with Maddie.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is that correct?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, with Great Clean's Press, yeah.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And you've written a couple books that uh revolve around hockey, I saw, and I was like books.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's well, actually a lot.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was sort of um I was a bit not stuck, I don't want to say because I love hockey, but I was, you know, sort of that's how I started.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I because I was working with indigenous children and we were it's a project, a literacy project.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we sent books to children who live on isolated reserves, and they write us back letters and then make, you know, they they request books or they make suggestions.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I like hockey, I like this.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was getting so many requests for hockey that I thought, okay, well, maybe I'll write a book for them.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I located just sort of by Fluke, an indigenous NHL player, and got in touch with him, and I just said, Would you be game to do this?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, Oh, I'd love to.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that was how it sort of started.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Even though I've been writing for a long, long time, I I hadn't really intended to write a children's book.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: It just sort of, you know, kind of fell in my lap.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: The they they encouraged you to write, write one for them.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's saying, I'm not a writer necessarily, you know, so I hopefully, you know, you can sort of take my voice and and make it me.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I did.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: That that is very cool.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: That is very cool.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Anna, I I'm not gonna be able to do it justice.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would love for you just to share your story a little bit and just kind of what what encouraged you, what inspired you to become an author, and and and what are some of the stories behind the stories that you've written, specifically your your latest one, but also I'd love for you to talk about the hockey ones a little bit more too, just because of the work that's gone on with that.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But but for those that don't know you, Anna, what what is your story?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, and there's so many inspirations.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I I come from a writing and a reading background, I think.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: I my parents were big readers, and um, they're both good writers too.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: My mom's an artist, so there's lots of she's a visual artist, so there's lots of creativity coming from her.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually loved writing so much that I decided to pursue it in graduate school.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I I wound up with a PhD in French literature, and it it wasn't necessarily because I wanted to be a professor, although I did wind up teaching at university for 20 years, but I I wanted to write.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I just thought if you when you write a doctorate, you know, you you write for five years and someone pays you, and I thought, okay, you know, I could do that.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I started, and that was when I first published um my very first short story during that time.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it, you know, so great to see my name there.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I think I sort of got addicted at that point.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then in the book, I'm like, wow, that's me.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, and then I, as I mentioned, the hockey book came from um working with indigenous children.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the next one was a bit of a fluke too, but Eliezer Sherbatov is the subject of my second book, and it's also a biography.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And he's had the most remarkable life because he played professional hockey all over the world, but never made the NHL.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's the story of these journeymen, you know, who don't necessarily hit the big time but live these fascinating lives.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he played even in a place called Auschwitzim, which was where um the Auschwitz content concentration camp was.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then he was a Jewish player, so that was incredibly heavy for him.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the story got even more complicated because he was playing in Ukraine the day that Putin invaded and bombed, and he was in the epicenter of the bombing, which is Mariupol.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we actually stopped the presses on that book and got that chapter in as well, his escape from Ukraine, which took place over four days.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, so and I kind of continued into that hockey theme with my very first novel, because those were both biographies, and I researched communist Czechoslovakia and came up with this hockey story of kids who love to play, and you're under this crisis oppressive regime.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um yeah, and then when I when that one was when I thought, okay, I think uh it's time to move on from the hockey theme, otherwise I'm gonna wind up being sort of stuck there.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I I finally the my latest book, Last Year with Maddie, is inspired by my best friend Sarah, whom I lost sadly in I guess 2009.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been about 15 years.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I I wanted to write a story about her for many, many years, but I didn't know exactly how to do it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so it finally came to me that, you know, this could it should be based on on me and on her in in some ways.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a story of a friendship that becomes complicated, you know, in the in the last year.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're children, you know, so it's not a sort of direct mirror of my life, but it's got a lot of autobiographical threads, and it was a cathartic, you know, uh write, I suppose.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that it will touch people.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because my friend Sarah, the inspiration for the book, she struggled with mental in illness, as does, you know, the the character, the friend in the book.
• 6:06
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, who's Maddie?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's called Last Year with Maddie.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very um that was as close to my heart, I think, as as someone as you can get.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is it let me ask you this, because I'm sitting here thinking, you know, as a even as adults, like we we we all have our childhood best friend.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm sure there's some things of the book that would resonate with anybody.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: But is the book primarily written for a certain age group?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Or like is it made for adults or is it made for children?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: What what's your intention behind it?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: They're all children's books, actually.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of adults read the second biography, and I think this one could appeal to an adult as well, but the writing is different.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you write for children, it's simpler, and there's not these like, you know, beautiful sweeping metaphors that you find in adult books.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, but it's generally cured.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm a middle grade writer generally, so it's like uh ages I'd say nine to twelve.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So where did where did your passion come from for for focusing on children?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd love to know more about the indigenous work as well.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like what, how did you get involved, where did that come from?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then just just why has that been your focus over the years?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that um it was interesting.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I I started volunteering for a different non-for-profit, not-for-profit, and I was helping them write grants.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I did a lot of research on reserves and on, you know, the lack of resources for children on reserve.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I was floored.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: I I was honestly, I I was not aware of how difficult it was.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this particular non-for-profit was funding a a breakfast program because not every child has breakfast and there's no library, and there's, you know, there there's just a tremendous lack of everything that a child needs to kind of thrive academically and in every way.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um and, you know, you have to understand that some of the reserves that we worked with are so isolated that you can only get to them via plane.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like five hours on a plane, you know, do you go first go to, you know, if you're in Manitoba, you first go to Winnipeg and then you've got, you know, another few hours on the plane.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And they're these tiny little jet planes that come in, you know, squeak, squeak, squeak and land uh on these runways that are usually covered in snow.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very hard for them to leave and very hard to access these places.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of isolation and you can't just go to the store and get a new book.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I just, you know, I wanted to try and, you know, make a dent in there somehow to get children some of their of their own books, because there's a direct link between having your own books in the house and literacy.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So children who don't have books don't sort of see them as a part of their lives.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if you grow up with your, you know, your ten favorite books or you have ten favorite books a year, it can make a huge difference.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what we did.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: We just I started, my mother-in-law paid for the first box of books.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what I was doing, but I thought I'll try.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then my mother gave me another, you know,$100 for more books.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I I don't know how it it I think a friend of mine started helping me on Facebook.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: That was that, you know, at that time it was, you know, 2011, Facebook was big.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we managed to start getting donors.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so since then we've sent 25,000 uh brand new books to kids, and we've had some wonderful letters back.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best part of the project because the kids are so cute.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I want a hockey book and you're my best friend, and you know, it's it's really lovely.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, 25,000 books is a lot.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm sure as you started started this program, I I like could you have ever imagined that you'd be giving away that many books?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I know.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know if we'd make it or not, um, because a lot of non-for-profits that fizzle out.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I really have to like express all my gratitude to the community because it's we're entirely funded by um the community and just people who know us and sometimes companies um who hear of us and they call us and they say we'll have like a Christmas drive for you, or we'll do this for you.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it really is word of mouth, and we're just lucky that we've managed to keep going um this, you know, so far.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we I I'm just thinking, you know, a lot of us we take everything for granted.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's so easy, you know.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like I grew up and I had a whole bookshelf of books.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't even know if I read them all or not, but I had a lot of them.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, sometimes I pretended to read, I'm sure, and I'd get them out.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's but even just that experience of having a lot of books is so different than a lot of these children that you're working to get books to.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we hear a lot of things, you know, uh as far as the the culture on reservations and different things, you know, that aren't always the most positive.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you, when you take these books to these reservations, are they pretty receptive to it or is there challenges with being able to get the kids the books because you know you're encouraging education, but but are there challenges that come along with that?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: The the main challenge, see, we don't I don't go directly to um the reserves myself.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: We send the books via the post and then the teachers distribute them.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have them earmarked for each child who's made a request.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: But over the years, because I mean and Canada Post and you may or may not know this is sort of fighting bankruptcy.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so things became incredibly expensive for us.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we had to shift constantly to figure out how to get the books to the kids and still survive.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we what we do now is to send directly through big companies who have agreements in place with Purillator or or, you know, FedEx, and that takes the cost of shipping away from us.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that was how we we realized we can we can still keep going, we can still do this if we can find, you know, because they pay for the shipping and then we just buy the books.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: So and once they get there, then it's easy.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've had incredible teachers who we send them a list of you know who goes, who gets what, and then they distribute them for us and they collect the letters afterwards and send them back.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you they even sometimes they just photograph them and send them back.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's really them.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're the ones who are keeping us going.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's we have the easy part in some ways we write letters and we buy things, but you know, they've got to teach and they've gotta make sure the kids are reading those books that we send.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they give them some time at the end to take a look and they send us photographs of the kids reading.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they're going to the right place.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then the the children take them home.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big part of the project.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't stay at school, it's it's their book, and then they get to keep it.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is very cool.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: That is so cool.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: I again I was looking at again just some of the stuff you do, and I was so curious about that just because number one, I was like, they're giving away 25,000 books.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how does this work?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: How does how do you do that?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then just just more, you know, interested in in how the impact uh happens.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it sounds like there's a lot of people that have a hand and responsibility and trying to make sure these kids get the books, and so it's definitely a uh it's not an easy process.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't sound like no, it's it's a there's a few steps involved, but you know, the teachers have just been our everything, you know, making it work on their end.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we're we're happy that it's still uh going on and hope to hopefully another 25,000, you know, in the next few years.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe maybe now it'll happen even faster, you know, the more people and then you know, having conversations like this, you know, who who knows who watches or listens to it, and then they go, hey, we got to get in touch with Anna.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: We want to support, you know, what she's doing.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: You just you just never know.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully that will happen though.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that'd be wonderful.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and just so they know if anyone wants to donate, we've been vetted by the federal government because we received an award recently.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we're a hundred percent legit if anyone because we we're not an official charity, but we're volunteers.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if anyone wants to donate to us, the federal government says it's okay.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we're legit.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll make sure and try to to include those notes within our notes so that if anyone's interested, they can find you or find the program and and work to get in touch with you.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for sharing that.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to your book last year with Maddie, when you when you completed it, what were some of the things?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: What let me ask you this your process of writing it, because you've written a few different style books now.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: This one you you said was a little bit, you know, kind of therapeutic in a way, as you're kind of remembering some times with your childhood friend.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Was it tough to write it?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or was it mostly enjoyable to kind of go back through some of these memories and and piece all this together?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just because it sounds like it was a goal for a long time.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what were the feelings that you had as you as you worked through this story?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was both joyous and also painful.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: It really was.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because when I was trying to get the voice right, I would sort of remember these, you know, stupid jokes that my friend Sarah used to tell.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like she really was, she was very witty, and she kind of she'd take a stab at you, like you know, she'd swipe at you like a cat.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and she was incredibly giving at the same time.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to kind of capture that generosity and uh her kind of catty boys, her little, you know, the her witticisms and things like that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: So revisiting that was wonderful because it actually brought up some memories that I had forgotten, you know.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And also, you know, I was I kind of revisited trips.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: We we took a trip, for example, to the Dominican together.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I sort of went back there.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was quite a while ago, and you know, we went to a Ricky Merton concert together, and and I, you know, I just sort of went backwards and I thought, I can't believe all the stupid things we did when we were young.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it was so much fun.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the hardest part for me is is the ending.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'm saying this is the sort of tragedy behind the book, is that you know, in the end, it's what I hoped had ha would have happened because, you know, the two girls, they've had this falling out and they reconcile and this sort of a happy ending.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: But in the end, you know, Sarah did take her own life.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I did mention that in in the notes, but that was the bittersweet part, is that I kind of made it into what I wished life had been um as opposed to what really happened.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that that that was tough.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, I think I was able to bring her back, you know, to to people, it's been fifteen years and also to her family, her mother, for example, who's still around, so she really appreciated as well, and her brother.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there's definitely some bittersweet in all of it.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: As as specifically as young people read this book, what are what are some of the messages that you hope they take away from it?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what are some of the things that if if you you hope they can take and apply to their life or their experiences, what do you hope that is?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a good question.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think the most important message that I learned anyway is that you you really have to tell people you love them when you leave them because you just don't know what's gonna be.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I didn't know what what was gonna happen.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, this Sarah was things were sort of deteriorating and i but I still never saw it coming, really.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Her death.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, I just wish that our last conversation had been, you know, I love you so much.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean it w wasn't, you know, terrible.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: It w uh it was just it made me think, uh, you know, now every time, you know, I say goodbye to someone, I always say, Oh, you know, I love you or you're you something because you just you just never know.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you say that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, me and my buddies we say it a lot more now than we ever did.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think we have that realization as we've gotten older, you know, we've lost friends already and family members, and and a lot of us don't live near each other anymore.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So when we get the chance to talk or to hang out, you know, or go on a trip, maybe a Ricky Martin concert.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: But we we do always, it seems now, we're always like, Love you, man, love you, bro.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like everyone always says it because we realize, like, hey, we maybe we don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I do think that's a very good message to share and for people to hear because we get we're all so busy, we get caught up in doing so many different things that we just again take take our time for granted.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then when something happens, you truly do wish you could have changed something or would have done something different.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's just a good reminder to appreciate your friends, and we all have our little quarrels and and you know, with family and all of that, but at the end of the day, nothing should you know come between those great moments and that appreciation.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is a really good, really good message that I hope like the young people take and learn from early to appreciate your friends and family like that.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's just really cool that you shared that.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Never go to bed, Matt, right?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: You just you've got to work it out somehow.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you're mad, you still say love me, then you go to bed.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Anna, what's your what's your future look like?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what are some things that you hope to accomplish over the next just you don't have to look long term, but like the next couple years?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean you've done a lot of different things.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're currently working on some different things.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: You obviously have goals to give away more books, but what are just some of the things?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have additional books that are that are in progress?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have more plans for these programs?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just what what's your what's your future goals look like?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I do have a book coming out.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't signed on the dotted line, but I've had the offer.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's actually about a violinist, a young violinist, again, it's a middle-grade book, who meets an elderly uh Lithi, who's a who is a man who makes violins.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it turns out that he has buried a violin 60 years ago during a time when in China when they were illegal.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Violins were illegal during the Cultural Revolution, like classical music was illegal and it was just a kind of very strict communist regime.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So she is a musician and she goes into a competition and goes back to try and find it, this buried violin.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's a sort of music story and also like an intergenerational friendship because you know she's um 13 and he's 73 or something like that.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it's the story of their friendship and their bond through music.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's yeah, it's just just been accepted, and uh it'll be coming out, I think, s next September or or October in 2027.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, congratulations.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's so exciting to to know you've got additional work out there, and we'll be very proud to spotlight that book as well with when it gets published.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what about just some of the other work with with Indigenous and and with other programs?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Are those things that you you want to continue to expand and grow?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: The yeah, books with wings, the program, I mean, we just want to keep, you know, doing what we're doing and keep getting funded, you know, essentially.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I that's our main goal is to just keep trying.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we do adopt new schools, you know, that that's something else.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like we like to try and expand.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we stay with schools long term, usually four or five years, and then you know, we go where we're needed.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if there's a particular reserve that's been affected, for example, like why by wildfires, or you know, we try and get to the kids if we can.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I imagine um, you know, this year we'll be looking to see if there's anyone, you know, who really is trying to rebuild build a school.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Or I mean, hopefully the reserves will be okay, but they have been evacuated, some of the schools we work with in those areas.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll certainly try and and reach children who have been affected by that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: When when was the first year that you started providing books to the schools?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was 2011.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, about yeah, it's it's slow going, you know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're small and we're three you know, we're four volunteers total.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we you know, we're small but mighty.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, and then and I teach as well.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm still gonna be doing that for for a long many years to come, I hope, because I do love that too.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I teach adults more than children.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: You get you get kind of a mixture of both worlds, which is probably enjoyable.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Yeah, exactly.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask, 'cause I mean that's fifteen years.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do do some of these students do do any of them have the opportunity to to leave the reservation to go to colleges, universities, and go to different parts, or do a lot of them stay where they're at?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's been your experience with seeing those kids that you first gave books to?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where are they at today?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting question.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh truth be told, I don't always know.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, they they don't necessarily write to me and say I'm doing this next year.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: But it it is, I think about 50% or so graduate high school.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's much harder to get um a high school diploma.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the reasons is that not all reserves have high schools.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: So children who are 13, if they want to pursue their studies, oftentimes they have to leave.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: So they go to, you know, bigger cities.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so some children don't want to do that, you know, for obvious reasons.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: But sure, I mean there's many, you know, who go on to go to universities.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's actually subsidies in effect at some schools in Manitoba, so tuition is is reduced, which is great and makes it more accessible.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's hard for me to track them necessarily.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, once they leave the school, you know, I'm not really sure how you know where they are or or how things are going.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I still keep their letters.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have bagfuls, like literally like garbage bags full of but I don't tend to keep in touch with them after.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes on Facebook I get a message fromce in a while and they say, Oh, you know, I was in this program, like you gave me a nice book, and that was that, you know, that's wonderful.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm sure that's so rewarding hearing from them.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then again, there's so many people you'll you'll never know the true impact that you have.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: But it would be, it's just I think it's cool to think about like if a kid, if that kid maybe never got the book that you sent, maybe they would have never pursued high school or university or something else.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: So and I'm sure there's a lot that did because they got a book.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so again, it's yeah, it's hard to track all of that, but I have no doubt that there are probably some some children that you've impacted in that way.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's a really cool thing to think about.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: We got a wonderful letter fairly recently from a little girl, and she was, I guess, six or so, and she said, you know, I can read now, you know, after receiving h however many books, which was so nice.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, obviously the teachers are doing way more work than we are, you know.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: But we hopefully do get them something they like to take home.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, no, absolutely.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anna, I've got just one more question for you.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: This has been fantastic.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for sharing all of this because I I again I think you never know who's gonna listen or watch this and and want to be a part of doing positive and impactful things.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what this is all about.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I do have a question for you that's just kind of more of a books for guys question.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always curious to know, you know, just book recommendations and all of that.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: But my question is what is a book or two that has meant a lot to you personally, and what's a book that you love to recommend to other people?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: The most recent book I read that floored me was The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an epistolary book, so written through letters, and I think the whole world is going nuts for that book right now.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I it's an international bestseller.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's another book written by a man named Dennis Bach, um, which he's Canadian, which I really loved, called Strangers at the Red Door.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that one stayed with me for a long time too.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's got this very, very small, like supernatural kind of element, but mostly, you know, it I mean, it's you know, I won't spoil it for you.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say Strangers at the Red Door is a fabulous Canadian book.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's been nominated for some big awards here.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then The Correspondent, which is by Virginia Evans, which is an American book, that she couldn't get published, which is really interesting.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: No one wanted it.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And now, I mean, the whole world is trying to get a copy of that book.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it just goes to show you have to persevere if you want to be a later.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have heard of that book.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have not read it yet, but it is incredible the amount of people I've talked to that some of the most popular books out there.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: At first, publishers don't pick them up.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, I don't understand the process.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know, you know, as I I'm not an author myself, but I love talking to authors, and I'm learning about this whole process of how publishing works and just how competitive it is, and just some of the, you know, with the big ones, there's certain just milestones you have to be at to even be considered.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, but what about just the good writing?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like why it just there's a lot to it that I'm learning and just how just challenging it can be to get your work out there.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So when you do have a book that that's been published, I can just imagine just how proud of a feeling you can have to have a physical copy and be like, I did it.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I couldn't believe it when I saw my very first book.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was just uh, you know, in shock.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, some of the, you know, Jay the big one is of course Harry Potter.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: She couldn't sell, not for the life of her.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's James Choice.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are so many masterpieces that no one wanted.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And today I think it really has a lot to do with money, whether or not it can be a great book, but will this sell?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because the publishing houses need to stay alive.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the little ones have sort of been swallowed up by all the big ones.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, publishing is sort of I mean, it's struggling a little because of AI as well.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think I saw this terrifying statistic that 50% of books on Amazon are written by AI right now.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Not sure how accurate that is, but I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we're battling against these bots, you know.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I got in there early, so now people know if I write a book, it's me.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So now I think people might be worried about trying to be an author now.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, people I would wonder, did they do they think I'm, you know, I might have consulted Claude or you know, Brock for this.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's it's getting tricky out there.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: In a lot of different industries, it's getting tricky out there due to AI and and all of that.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: But but no, that's what we're whole other story.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, whole nother story.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: We could talk a lot about it as it is it is important though.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is important to have that conversation.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: But no, Anna, thank you again so much for taking the time to do this.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: What what you're doing, what you've accomplished already, it is so incredible.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and no doubt you have so many more things to accomplish and have an impact with.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so can't wait to see all the work you continue to publish, all the books you continue to give away.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are more than happy to spotlight you and and all of your work and just excited to see what else you continue to do.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a pleasure to talk to you.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Anna.