My twenty books, written over thirty-five years

    Recently, I told someone to check out my blog to see the books I have authored. After the conversation ended, I realized that I shortchanged myself. This blog, ruthannelatta.blogspot.com doesn't include everything.  Some of my earlier books were listed on my old blog, ruthlattabooks.blogspot.com

     In 2013, I started publishing Canadian historical novels of particular interest to women, beginning with The Songcatcher and Me, a young adult novel inspired by the life of Canadian folklorist and folk song collector Edith Fowke, whom I met briefly in the 1980s. 

    In 2016, came Grace and the Secret Vault, another young adult novel, based on the childhood experiences of Grace Woodsworth during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.

    I followed that with Grace in Love, 2018) a novel for grown-ups, about Grace Woodsworth finding her life's work and her life partner after some trial and error in Paris and in Ottawa.

    Next, in 2019, just before the pandemic struck, came Votes, Love and War, a novel of the impact of World War I on Canadians at  home and on the women's suffrage movement. This novel featured two real-life prominent Winnipeg journalists of the pre-war period, two sisters named Lillian Beynon Thomas and Francis [sic] Marion Beynon. 

    During the pandemic I wrote A Girl Should Be, a novel about a young woman growing up in western Canada in the latter Roaring Twenties and the early "Dirty Thirties", which shows the impact of the Great Depression on young people. It was published in 2021

    My most recent Canadian historical novel is A Striking Woman, inspired by part of the life of trade union leader Madeleine Parent (1918-2012).  When the central character, Jacqueline Laflamme, began work as a union organizer, her friends and family were shocked, but respected her choice.  Like other young people who came of age in the 1930s, she was appalled at the poverty, injustice and aggression going on in the world. How could she put her principles into practice?  She dedicated her life to winning Canadian workers their rights, and had a lot of fun along the way.

These historical novels are published by  Baico Publishing of Ottawa,  info@baico.ca

In addition to the above, I am the author of four mystery  novels, Tea With Delilah, The Secret of White Birch  Road (YA), Illusions Die and Memories Stick, all published by Baico between 2004 and 2007.)

I have published three collections of my short stories:  A Wild Streak (Burnstown, General Store, 1995); Save the Last Dance for Me (Poetica Press, Ottawa 2002);   and Winter Moon (2010), which won the 2011 "Northern Lit" award for fiction (an award given by Ontario Library Services North and Northern Ontario Libraries.) 

The following three novels are general interest, no particular category: The Old Love and the New Love (Baico, 2012); Spelling Bee (Baico 2010);  An Amethyst Remembrance, (Baico 2008)

My four non-fiction books include:

The Tried: The Story of the Canadian Youth Congress, self published in 2006

Grace MacInnis, A woman to remember (X-libris, 2001) co-authored with Joy Trott

Life Writing: Autobiographers and their Craft (General Store, 1988, 1996)

The Memory of all That: Canadian Women Remember World War II (General Store, 1993) It's an anthology which I compiled and edited.

Life Music: Stories by Seniors, was another collection of short fiction that I compiled, edited and self-published in 1998 in connection with my classes for older adults held at various community centres, continuing education programs and libraries.

I think that adds up to twenty books written over the past thirty-five years. I've also published a few chapbooks of poetry and fiction, some of them cooperative ventures with other authors. 

 Some of my older books are out of print and no longer in the Ottawa Public Library but they are part of the collection of Library and Archives Canada and can be obtained through interlibrary loan.  I have a limited number of copies of each so if  you really need or want one, you can reach me through Baico Publishing, info@baico. 

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