It began at the Strathcona Seniors' Centre in Edmonton one January day in 1996. Joyce Harries took her seat in a creative writing class offered by retired University of Alberta professor of English Jack Bilsland. It was the first time she had tried writing anything besides lists and letters since finishing grade 12 a mere fifty years earlier.
A Writer’s Life
After Harries’ initiation into the world of creative writing she “had so much material” – essays, memoirs, poems, stories – that she attended a writing class at Lakeland College called "Almost a Book." The instructor, Saskatchewan-born writer Edna Alford, reviewed Harries’ eclectic portfolio and declared, “No publisher will print this conglomeration."
Undeterred, Harries continued in Alford’s class and turned the future of her almost book around in her mind. When the title "A Wise Old Girl's Own Annual" came to her, Harries shared the idea with Alfred, who, according to Harries, said, "I think you've got something there." So Harries continued to write and put her pieces together alphabetically, creating what she calls in a recent email interview a “knock-off of the old Girls' Own Annuals that were published in England between 1879-1942.”
Standing at the Bar
Some time after her course with Edna Alford, Joyce Harries attended the Canadian Authors Association's national convention in Edmonton, Alberta where she had a conversation with a man (now retired president of Lone Pine Publishing, Grant Kennedy) while standing at the bar at the Faculty Club. Harries describes the encounter:
“The man next to me said, "You're a writer - what have you written?" I said, "I have a manuscript called "A Wise Old Girl's Own Annual," and the dear fellow said, "I love it - I used to get "The Boy's Own Annual" every Christmas when I was growing up. Can you have lunch on Thursday and bring your manuscript?" Less than two years later, in October 2000, when Harries was 72, Lone Pine Publishing released her first book.
Girdles and Other Harnesses I Have Known
Harries’ annual took the title of the opening memoir – “Girdles and Other Harnesses I Have Known.” The book is a mixture of memoirs and essays about her life from the 1930s to the 1990s, including modeling in Edmonton, being the wife of a professor/rancher/politician and the mother of 6, becoming a widow, aging. Short stories, poems, recipes and family photographs are also included. Together the pieces tell the story of a fascinating woman that very well could live next door.
Twice in a Blue Moon
After Girdles and Other Harnesses I Have Known was published, Harries did not sit on her laurels. She continued to write, attend workshops, and submit pieces for publication. Another collection developed, and Spotted Cow Press picked it up. Twice in a Blue Moon, a delightful, meaningful collection of poetry that expands on the themes and stories of Harries’ first book, was published in 2007, three months after her 79th birthday.
Keep on Going
Twelve years after her foray into writing, Joyce Harries has two published books and a third waiting review from a publisher. She is active in writing and arts organizations and has her own webpage. She says that she has “forgotten how to parse a sentence, [doesn't] know Chaucer, Shakespeare, Greek myths, bible or much of what many writers do know, [but] I continue to muddle along enjoying the trip” of writing and exploring life and the world through words.
Harries' Books
Girdles and Other Harnesses I Have Known
224 pages
Lone Pine Publishing, 2000
ISBN:1-55105-154-0
Twice in a Blue Moon
80 pages
Spotted Cow Press, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9780415-1-9
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