Word on the Hills Interviews with Patricia Calder
NEW Book: I Flew into Trouble
Join us on Word on the Hills to hear about Patricia Calder’s new book I FLEW INTO TROUBLE. Born into a prolific family of eight writers, Patricia Calder dreamed of becoming a writer herself. However, the travel bug hit and she lived in Europe for a year, visiting 22 countries. Then began a 30-year teaching career which included Writer’s Craft and Journalism. Meanwhile she kept the dream alive studying fiction writing under Canadian authors such as Matt Cohen.
She published a novel, Roadblock and is working on a story about her Uncle Jack called I Flew into Trouble. Her grandmother’s World War II scrapbook has recently been accepted into the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. She has also published splendid photographic records of her visits to the see the Spirit Bears in BC and the wild horses of Sable Island in Nova Scotia.
The University of Windsor collaborated with me in producing a website of my grandmother’s WWII Scrapbook containing 100 authentic documents which tell the story of my Uncle Jack, a navigator with RCAF/RAF.
He parachuted into Republican Ireland (Eire) in 1941, was captured by the Guards and thrown into the Curragh prison where he remained for 20 months. He escaped under a cloak of secrecy and began retraining when his plane crashed into a mountain in Northern England. Luckily he was rescued by a nurse who hiked 10 miles to the smoking crash site. Then he spent 8 months in hospital, enduring many surgeries to his leg and face. Finally he returned to service and was elevated to Pathfinders where he flew Mosquitoes until he was shot down in July 1944.
Roadblock
April 2015 Interview
Interview Part 1
Interview Part 2
Biography
Born into a prolific family of eight writers, Patricia Calder started scribbling at age eleven in a Hilroy notebook which she carried on field adventures. Her novel, ROADBLOCK, was published in April, 2015. It is available on Amazon, Kobo, and by contacting Patricia through this website..
She has studied fiction writing under Canadian authors Matt Cohen, Matthew Anthony Corrigan, Katherine Govier, Anne Simpson, and Christy Ann Conlin, among others.
A qualified English teacher, she has taught literature, journalism, and creative writing in high schools, community colleges, and at York University.
She has visited 22 countries, lived abroad, and crossed Canada several times.
Patricia Calder now lives in Colborne, Ontario, where she can always view the water.
Also by Patricia Calder:
“The Unexpected Gifts of Alzheimer’s” in The Globe & Mail, May 9, 2011.
“Stand Down, Soldier” in Remembrance Day editions, Northumberland Today and The Belleville Intelligencer, 2008. (Am I right about the year?) Short-listed in the single column award category by The Word Guild, May 2010. Subsequently published on twenty military websites and read on Remembrance Day on the radio and in ceremonies in 2009.
“The Shadow of My Uncle” and “Forced Landings” in Northumberland Today and The Intelligencer, Remembrance Day editions, 2009 and 2011, respectively.
Earlier articles by Patricia Calder were published under the surname Cooper in Outdoor Canada, His Magazine , the Toronto Sun, and CBC Radio.
