Two Canadian authors — one whose book chronicles her experience with breast cancer and the other, contemporary Vietnam and the new economy — are speaking at the Read for the Cure event at downtown’s Marriott Hotel Wednesday night.
The author of The Beauty of Humanity Movement, Camilla Gibb writes about identity, family and community.
It’s been five years since her last book, Sweetness in the Belly, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and received the Trillium Book Award.
“I needed a five-year gap so I wouldn’t be comparing the two,” she said.
The new first-time mom said she hasn’t written a sentence since her daughter was born, but thinks motherhood will give her a new perspective on the world.
“I think it will impact on my writing,” she said.
The author of When My World Was Very Small, Ruth Rakoff said her book is more than about breast cancer, “it’s about life, crisis, falling down and moving forward.
“I think people can relate to my book whether they’ve had cancer or not,” she said. “I think that everybody has had some form of profound life experience, whether it be cancer or illness or losing a job or a loved one. I think the perimeters are similar.”
Rakoff, who began writing as a therapeutic outlet, said she never intended to show the work to anyone.
“The fact that it’s now a book is a little bit weird,” she said. “When I talk to people, they’re curious what possessed me to be so honest and up front in my writing.
“I was writing it for myself so needed it to be very honest and very raw in many ways.”
