Award winning author, Cathryn Prince, will be in Ithaca for two events during Veterans Day weekend. Cathryn Prince is the author of four books of non-fiction history, a frequent contributor to The Christian Science Monitor, The Weston Forum, Weston Magazine, and Ridgefield Magazine, and has taught journalism at Quinnipiac, Columbia and Boston Universities. Military Writers Society of America recently awarded Cathryn Prince its 2013 Founders Award for Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
On Saturday, Nov. 9, at 1 p.m., Cathryn Prince will be part of the Veterans Day program on Absent Narratives sponsored by The History Center of Tompkins County. Executive Director Scott Callan has pulled together an exciting program that includes local author, Katie Aldridge, and Brooklyn poet and Iraqi war veteran, Nicole Goodwin. Cathryn Prince will discuss Burn the Town and Sack the Banks: Confederates Attack Vermont! (Basic Books) and local author, Katie Aldrigdge will talk about No Freedom Shrieker: The Civil War Letters of Union Soldier Charles Freeman Biddlecom, 147th Regiment, New York State Volunteer Army (Paramount Market Publishing). Nicole Goodwin was one of the first homeless veterans of the Iraq War and featured in the documentary When I Came Home. She will read some of her poems and give a presentation on the Warrior Writers Project. Cathryn Prince, Katie Aldridge, and Nicole Goodwin will discuss the importance of including absent narratives in our understanding of war history and the healing powers of writing for veterans.
On Sunday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m., Cathryn Prince will be at Buffalo Street Books for a presentation on Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff (Palgrave Macmillan). 
The worst maritime disaster ever happened in January 1945 in the freezing water of the Baltic Sea when more than 9,400 perished. Drawing on interviews with survivors, she weaves their personal narratives into a broader story brought back from the bottom of the sea. Copies of her books will be available for purchase at both events, courtesy of Buffalo Street Books.
Writing and Listening — an Interview with Brooke Randel
As a young girl Brooke Randel knew little about the Holocaust—just that it was a catastrophe in which millions were murdered, and that her grandma Golda Indig barely escaped that fate. But her Bubbie never spoke about what happened, and the two spent most of their time together making pleasant memories: baking crescent roll cookies, playing gin rummy, and watching Baywatch. Until an unexpected phone call when Golda said, out of the blue: “You should write about my life. What happened in the war.” What results is a fascinating memoir—about one woman’s harrowing survival, and another’s struggle to excavate theRead more…