NFOTA 22

Tom Pickering

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Meet Tom Pickering. The majority of Tom’s work life has been as a technical writer. His first job after graduation from the University of Alberta was to write training manuals for a company based in Edmonton. Several years after school, he returned to Ontario and continued with technical writing at IT and engineering related companies. Along the way, Tom amused himself with an avocation in art, studying at the Ontario College of Art, and in community theatre, where he performed onstage and wrote and directed plays. In later years, Tom moved to Northumberland County and continued his interest in theatre with the Northumberland Players for several years. More recently, Tom participated in the 2022 edition of the Northumberland Festival of the Arts, which brought together a wide assortment of artistic talent that was showcased across multiple venues within the county. Here he was introduced to new experiences, deepened existing friendships and made new ones. He is also a member of the Spirit of the Hills Arts Association and belongs to one of the Writer Critique groups that meet regularly to share and critique work of the group’s members. He lives in Cobourg with his wife Tracy and his dog Lily.

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Cynthia Reyes and Carol Shaw

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This week listen in to Cynthia Reyes and Carol Shaw talk about memoirs and the workshop they are giving at Northumberland Festival of the Arts.

Cynthia Reyes is a passionate gardener and writer, and is happiest digging around in the dirt, but she also finds time to produce her very popular blog, write several bestselling books, including  the richly illustrated Twigs in My Hair, A Gardening Memoir.   Her series of illustrated children’s books about Myrtle the Purple Turtle  which she wrote with her daughter Lauren,  have  received excellent reviews. She now enjoys reading them to her granddaughter. An award winning journalist and executive producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, more than a hundred episodes of her programs appeared on network television.

Carol Shaw lives in Warkworth and is also a passionate gardener. She and Cynthia will be giving a workshop about memoir writing, another interest they have in common, at the Northumberland Festival of the Arts on September 23rd. Carol has retired from two careers – one as an elementary school teacher, and the other as an administrator in long term care for seniors. Although Carol has written and published articles on seniors’ issues when she was working, Covid gave her the chance to finally write the memoir that she had envisioned, enabling her to share her memories with her family. 

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