Stratford Writers Festival to feature “Fireside Chat” with former Beacon Herald summer intern

Author Merilyn Simonds, who got her start as a writer working for a newspaper in Stratford, will return to the Festival City on Sept. 27 for a fireside chat with poet Heidi Sander as part of the Stratford Writers Festival.

Though she went on to write more than 20 books in her career, including her latest, Walking with Beth, author Merylin Simonds got her start as a writer working as a summer intern for the Stratford Beacon Herald newspaper.

Simonds, who will be back in Stratford for a fireside chat about Walking with Beth with award-winning poet and founder of the Stratford Writers Festival Heidi Sander on Sept. 27, said that while she was born in Winnipeg, she spent her formative years half an hour down the road from Stratford in Plattsville.

“I was born in Winnipeg, but my parents left when I was three months, so that doesn’t really count,” Simonds said. “And I lived in Plattsville from the age of three months to seven, when my parents moved to Brazil, and then from seven until I left for university – I guess I was 17 or 18. And I went to Waterloo-Oxford high school, which is near New Hamburg.”

Knowing she wanted to be a writer from the time she was a teenager, Simonds applied for the summer intern position at the Beacon Herald to gain some real-world experience before she headed off to university.

“I learned from (the editor) that the Stratford Beacon Herald hired a journalism intern and their policy was to hire a fourth-year journalism student from Western,” Simonds recalled. “So, I started applying in Grade 11 and every year, I sent a letter saying, ‘Ok, I am still intent on being a writer and I really, really, really want to come work for you.’ Finally, by first-year university, he hired me and it was just to get rid of me, really. He had to hire me to get me off his back.

“I worked at the Beacon Herald for a summer and I did … the great, big, fat (Stratford) Festival supplement. I wrote everything in that and edited it. … I did it all, but it was a fantastic job because I was at the Festival all the time, I interviewed all the actors and directors and people who later became famous, people who were already famous. At that time, I was trying to decide between English literature and drama – I ended up getting a degree in both because I love theatre – but it was one of those lifechanging experiences for me.”

Simonds says she is excited to return to Stratford, where she got her start as a writer. This time, however, she will be sharing her experience and insights as a now well-established author, specifically with regard to her book, Walking with Beth.

The book is based on conversations Simonds, who is in her 70s, had at onset of the COVID-19 pandemic with her friend, Beth, who is now 105 years old. Her book is described as a lyrical meditation on friendship, memory and time. In her fireside chat with Sander, Simonds will explore the intertwined themes of aging, friendship and creativity through the poetic lens that runs throughout the book.

“Beth and I have been friends for years as part of the Kingston literary community,” Simonds said. “I never really cared about birthdays, but when I was about to turn 70, I thought, ‘Oh dear, this feels different somehow.’ So, I thought, I want to talk to somebody who’s older, who’s been through this, and I thought of my friend, Beth, who is exactly 30 years older than I am. She had just turned 100. So, I called her up and I said, ‘Let’s get together,’ and she, in her wisdom, said, ‘It’s COVID, let’s go for a walk.’

“So we went for a walk and our conversation was so stimulating, we said, ‘Let’s do this again next week.’ ”

During the countless walks and conversations that followed, Simonds and Beth mulled over some of life’s great questions surrounding how we live, how we remember and how we make meaning from loss, all of which Simonds recorded and became the foundation for her book.

“Beth is just such a remarkable individual,” Simonds said. “She worked until she was 99. … She strongly believes in following your passion and in having a passion. And if you have a passion that isn’t necessarily the money work that you do, when your job ends, you will have something else to carry you forward. She has tremendous curiosity in the world, she lives entirely in the present, she’s not one of these older people who lives in the past … and I just thought I don’t want to be the only one who knows Beth. I want other people to know Beth because she is just such an amazing person.”

For more information and to purchase tickets for the Charlie Mountford Fireside Chat with Merilyn Simonds, visit https://tinyurl.com/3j28aycj.