The 2nd Annual Alberta Readers’ Choice Award was given out June 11,
2011, at the Alberta Book Awards in Calgary. The winner of the $10,000
prize was 74-year-old Helen Waldstein Wilkes, author of a moving memoir of tragedy, discovery and resilient new life. The book is called Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery, published by Athabasca University Press.
Helen Waldstein was 2 years old when she fled with her parents from Nazi-occupied Prague to Canada. The letters to which the title refers are those of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins; letters sent to Helen’s family in their new Canadian home from relatives who did not survive the Holocaust. The letters were handed down to
Helen Wilkes by her father but Helen did not open the box of letters until she was 60 years old. When she finally read them, Helen began a journey of discovery to find her lost family in the Old Country and to also discover her own lost heritage as a Jew.
Look me Video.....
Helen Waldstein was 2 years old when she fled with her parents from Nazi-occupied Prague to Canada. The letters to which the title refers are those of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins; letters sent to Helen’s family in their new Canadian home from relatives who did not survive the Holocaust. The letters were handed down to
Helen Wilkes by her father but Helen did not open the box of letters until she was 60 years old. When she finally read them, Helen began a journey of discovery to find her lost family in the Old Country and to also discover her own lost heritage as a Jew.
Look me Video.....
And.
Helen Waldstein Wilkes sat down with me the morning after the Awards in the lobby of Calgary’s grand old Palliser Hotel and talked about her book Letters from the Lost. I opened by asking why she waited so long to study the letters. You can hear that interview by clicking on the Title of this Blog Entry.
Helen Waldstein Wilkes sat down with me the morning after the Awards in the lobby of Calgary’s grand old Palliser Hotel and talked about her book Letters from the Lost. I opened by asking why she waited so long to study the letters. You can hear that interview by clicking on the Title of this Blog Entry.
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