Laura Kalpakian – författare

For all fans of Carol Shields and Jane Smiley: a warm, wise and wonderful evocation of family love and redemption set on an island off Seattle.No family is ordinary, but this family is less ordinary than most… When Sunny returns to her mother’s house on Isadora Island off the west coast of Seattle with her small daughter, Brio, in tow, she’s in retreat from her mad, difficult life in LA. Celia’s famous B&B, Henry’s House, a tranquil oasis, seems the perfect place to recover and give Brio a sense of real family life.But Celia’s life has been anything but ordinary. Strong, beautiful and independent, with a tragedy in her past, Celia has always believed in unfettered love, and took many male lovers and partners, and had children by a number of them. Her three children, half-sisters Sunny, Victoria and Elizabeth, have followed different paths to their mother: Sunny, nursing her own secret; Victoria, secretly married to her husband years ago but too scared to tell the disapproving Celia; and Celia’s favourite, the free-spirited Bethie, who has just announced her engagement to Wade, an ex-drug addict survivor who now runs a personal development programme for other ‘Re-coverees’. The whole extended family gather on the Island at Henry’s House for Bethie’s engagement party, and there the true strength of family love is put to the test….

The memoir is not the story of what you know, it's the story of how you learned it.Memory into Memoir provides a lively guide for anyone looking to wrestle the unruly past onto the page. In thirteen chapters, Laura Kalpakian provides tools to develop narrative form, scenic depiction, character development, and dialogue. There are chapters devoted to excavating the Family Story and the slippery Truth, especially when telling stories not solely your own. Kalpakian explores the use of letters, diaries, and photographs, and she offers tips for research, publishing choices, and the uses of music. With a broad exploration of technique and development, and a range of reference, Memory into Memoir includes examples, extensive resources, and animating prompts. The seasoned writer, the aspiring writer, and the reluctant writer looking for a knowledgeable, encouraging companion will find Memory into Memoir the go-to guide for a successful, fulfilling writing experience.

The powerful true story of a parent’s unflagging battle on behalf of a beloved son struggling with PTSD, mental illness, and addiction and a family who bore the burdens of war for decades. In January 1969, angry after a fight with his father, nineteen-year-old Doug Johnson—in what will be a fateful choice—decides to enlist in the Army. Once in Vietnam as a point man, Doug becomes addicted to speed and heroin, goes AWOL multiple times, and is court martialed and imprisoned. In order to avoid a second court martial, he agrees to accept an “undesirable” discharge that denies him veterans’ benefits and any recognition of his wartime service. In late August 1970, drugged, malnourished, and clutching the sandal of a dead Viet Cong, Doug staggers off a plane into the arms of his father. But Doug’s return home is only the beginning of this story. The core of Undesirable recounts another war: Doug’s father against the US Army. For three years, he fights to have his son’s “undesirable” discharge changed to “honorable.” Half a century later Laura Kalpakian—devoted daughter and sister—exhumes the evidence her father collected. From this trove of documents she assembles a heartbreaking story of a father’s love for his son and a son’s experience at war. Undesirable: A Father’s Odyssey demands that we ask what we—and our government—owe to our veterans for the physical, psychological, and emotional sacrifices they and their families make.