Joan Beecroft, in partnership with The Ginger Press in Owen Sound, is planning to publish a collection of thoughts, memories, and stories of the lives of newcomers to this area. If you have arrived in Grey Bruce from another country within the last five years, we’d love to hear from you. If you would rather tell your story and have someone write it down for you, that’s okay too.

These entries can take any form, and here are some ideas:

• A series of letters to someone who still lives at home, in which you tell them about your new life
• A family recipe you use, the memories it calls up, the story of the person who taught you how to make it, and/or what it means to you
• A poem talking about your new life as compared to life in your home country
• A personal story to tell readers about your life in Grey Bruce
• A conversation you have with someone in your home country who wants to know about your life here

Questions you can use to get started:

• Why did you come to this part of Canada?
• What did you find challenging when you were getting ready to leave your home country?
• What is the most important thing you brought with you?
• What did you find difficult when you first arrived here?
• What would have been helpful to know in your first months here?
• What surprised you in your first few months?
• What did you dislike at first, but have come to enjoy?
• What do you like about where you live now?
• What do you still find odd or strange?
• What traditions or customs of your home country do you still honour?
• Now that you’re here, what is your greatest hope or wish?
• What would you tell others from your home country who want to come here?
• Do you have a funny story or two to share about your new home?

Or any other things you’d like people to know

This opportunity is open to newcomers of any age, from any country, who have come to live in Grey Bruce in the last five years. Those who are selected for publication by The Ginger Press will be given a copy of the finished book. Deadline for entries is April 15 2021. 

If you’d like more information, or to submit an entry, you can email [email protected]