Tag Archives: Calgary author

Author of the Month

Myriam Huser, pilot, humanitarian and author on how writing helped her learn more about herself and why she encourages everyone to JUST GO FOR IT!

 I never wanted to fit into what was normally expected of a woman; I chose to chase my dreams instead. 

Myriam Huser, author of They Called Me Sky Hunter

Myriam Huser is an incredibly skilled pilot and a talented storyteller – ask her about the time she was detained in Sudan while on a humanitarian aid mission; or, what it was like to hike Mount Kilimanjaro. She’s also a nature photographer and videographer. Recently, Myriam added ‘author’ to her list of titles and experience. They Called Me Sky Hunter, her new memoir about her adventures as one of the first women bush pilots, was published earlier this summer. Since then, she’s received countless reviews praising her book. She’s also had some fun interactions with the media. While being interviewed by Calgary morning radio hosts, Sue and Andy, she was told that, “she makes Indiana Jones look like a librarian!”

We caught up with Myriam to see how things have been going in her new adventure as an author. She shares her reflections and advice, and a couple of entertaining stories from her new book for Tellwell’s August author of the month feature. Enjoy the read!

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Who am I? Sometimes I wonder myself, haha. I was born in the Swiss Alps and I immigrated to Canada in my twenties. I never really stayed put as my aviation career kept taking me across the globe.

Most people see me as a strong independent woman. I see myself mostly as a shy introvert who is simply living her life as she wants. I do realize that my life is not an ordinary life, but to me, it’s just my normal life. I never wanted to fit into what was normally expected of a woman; I chose to chase my dreams instead. 

What inspired you to write They Called Me Sky Hunter?

Being aware that my life has been one big adventure that most people would never experience, I felt the need to share it. I wrote it, in part, to inspire anyone who has a dream but doubts if they can realize it. I’m hoping it will give those people the little push to get started. I also wanted to write it for those who cannot pursue their dreams, for whatever different reasons. 

I wanted to take people on a journey where they can escape to far away lands and experience extraordinary adventures through the stories in my book.

Personally, it also gives me an extra sense of accomplishment, the feeling that everything I have done won’t be forgotten as if it never mattered. 

Your book is full of incredible adventures that take us from Baghdad to Darfur to Sudan; from Uganda to Algeria; from the South of France to British Columbia. You’ve lived such a full life! Is there a particular story that you’re excited for readers to discover from your book? 

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Author of the Month

Canadian author and songwriter Colleen Songs shares of caregiving to mental illness

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In light of Bell Let’s Talk and a growing conversation on mental illness, Canadian author and songwriter Colleen Songs offers her perspective as the caregiver and loved one to a partner who was mentally ill.

She shares with readers her escape from a significant other with a narcissistic personality disorder and mental illness, in her memoir INHALE.

 

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Through this book and her signing career, she aspires to ignite the voice of the caregiver – who suffers a great deal of abuse and heartbreak as the person they’ve grown to love disappears so suddenly.

“They can transition in a heartbeat,” says Songs. “The quickest thing could shut him off, and I could see it on his face,” she adds.

But, it’s equally important to the author to use her creative gifts of writing and music, to inspire those who are mentally ill to tap into their talents and passions.

“Witnessing the mentally ill exercise their gifts and talents confirmed their happiness and awakening desire to live,” explains Songs. “They can cope better.”

While this has been an extremely cathartic exercise for Songs, writing, and then publishing and promoting this book has brought forth a plethora of emotions, doubts, fears and hesitations about how the telling of her story will affect her loved ones.

Songs says she’s been especially concerned about her children, and how publishing her story will affect them.

“I was afraid of hurting them to the point of almost not publishing. But inside I kept having this feeling that it would release them too. And sure enough, it did!”

Songs says her son, who was 12 when she left home to care for her late ex-husband, felt the book gave him clarity and filled in the gaps he never understood about the relationship that took such a toll on their family.

Her daughter, who was in her late teens at the time, felt the book relieved her of the guilt she’d been carrying, having seen things in the relationship that at the time she didn’t know what to do about.

Beyond the opportunity to reflect and gain clarity, Songs needed to write to gain closure from the past, and talk about how her family got to where they are today.

“With every word I felt such a release of pressure off of my chest, heart, mind and conscience! I carried so much guilt, so much survival-fear for so long that I wasn’t even really trusting nor enjoying my current state of healthy-love and life,” she says.

And finally, she’s starting to let go. “I thought there was enough closure when I finally left. I thought there was enough closure when I heard he’d died. But I only gained a sense of closure through writing,” says Songs.

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