Edmonton born, Red Deer based author Lise Pomerleau explores her family’s history as immigrants and some of the first pioneers, in her new book “ Becoming Sand.”
She will be doing a reading at Chapters, April 12 from 12-4 p.m.
“It is based quite a lot on my experiences growing up in Alberta and my family’s history,” said Pomerleau, who graduated from the University of Lethbridge in 2000 with her Master’s degree.
“My family moved here in the 1600s, so I wrote a fictionalized account of living in a Franco-Albertan family,” she said. She grew up in the small town of Blackfalds, just outside of Red Deer.
Her father is French-Canadian while Her mother is of Scottish and Manx descent.
There is a lot of time jumping in the book as she begins it by drawing on her own personal experiences growing up in Alberta in the ’60s, then jumps back to the 1600s as a French family settles in Canada. The story jumps to the 1920 as the ever expanding family, having slowly moved west to Saskatchewan seeking more land and then settle in Alberta.
The story picks up again in the early 1970s
After thirty years as a teacher, principal and second language, education specialist, Pomerleau took her passion for creative writing to create a novel that features the story of the Francophone pioneers coming to Alberta. As a Franco-Albertan, Lise was born in Red Deer, Alberta, with family roots tracing back to the voyageurs in New France and the Francophone pioneers in Alberta.
“ This book has been a labour of love for the past 32 years,” she said adding she did a lot of genealogical research into the lives of the early pioneers,which is why the book is not a biography of her family, but is loosely based on their lives.
“ It was a great experience,” she said adding the first three chapters of the book were actually written as part of her Master’s degree. She expanded on them or the rest of the book.
“ I think this story will appeal to a lot of different people who are interested in the early pioneers and their families,” she said.
She will be at Chapters in Lethbridge, April 12 from noon to 4 p.m.
