WRITERS’ WORKSHOP
Featuring Pat Valdata
Author of THE OTHER SISTER
Are you a budding novelist or other writer? Come share your ideas and learn from others with similar aspirations. Moderated by Pat Valdata, novelist and poet. A historical novel like THE OTHER SISTER requires extensive research. In her presentation and during the writers’ workshop, Pat will describe how to go about “doing one’s homework” – be that in archives, in libraries, gathering oral histories, and the like.
“Hats off to this fascinating American story–a tribute to Hungarian immigrant women and their families, who arrived in America during the early 20th century. Buffeted on the sea of life, yet their faith and culture anchors them in their new home.“ – Dr. August J. Molnar, President, American Hungarian Foundation
THE OTHER SISTER (Plain View Press, 2008) is Pat Valdata’s second novel. It explores and chronicles family relationships across three generations of a Hungarian immigrant family. United by their language, their foods and crafts, and the Catholic Church, the first generation of immigrants forms a tight-knit community to help one another in a town that is not often welcoming and is sometimes openly hostile. As succeeding generations become more Americanized, their challenge is to make a place for themselves in an increasingly materialistic society. The family story takes place against a backdrop of major events, including WWI, the influenza pandemic, the Great Depression, and sadly, two more wars.
Pat Valdata received an MFA in writing from Goddard College in 1991. She received Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards for poetry in 2001 and 2003. Her poetry has appeared most recently in Thanal Online, Big Bridge, Letters to the World (Red Hen Press, 2008) and North American Review. She is also an adjunct associate professor for the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Pat also writes occasional articles for Chesapeake Bay and Cecil Soil magazines in addition to her day job as a business writing consultant. She and her husband Bob Schreiber live in Elkton, Maryland. A true “Renaissance woman,” Pat is also a birder, and a licensed sailplane pilot. You can read more about Pat at https://www.public-republic.net/writing-poetry-makes-me-a-more-careful-writer.php