Submitted
Best-selling, award-winning author Marion Mutala has penned her 11th book. My Dearest Dido: The Holodomor Storyis a haunting account of the innocent victims of Stalin’s vicious regime known as the Holodomor. The Holodomor, or “death by starvation,” took place during the winter of 1932-33 in Ukraine.
The launch of My Dearest Dido: The Holodomor Storywill be part of the Holodomor commemorative event at the Chapel Gallery on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:40 p.m. and everyone is invited.
Mutala’s story is based on the voices of survivors and told through the eyes of Dido Bohdan and his granddaughter Hanusia. The Holodomor, or great Ukrainian Famine, was engineered by Joseph Stalin as a way to decrease, if not eliminate, the attitudes of political independence among Ukrainian farmers who were not keen on the economic policies inside the communist Soviet Union.
Death by starvation was Stalin’s attempt to control Ukraine by starving millions of families, and re-populating empty villages with communist-minded Russians moved in to settle the country. Stalin achieved the Holodomor by silencing the media, sealing the borders, removing all foodstuffs, and destroying all methods of food production such as pots, ovens, etc.
The cover art of the book is beautifully and powerfully illustrated by Ukrainian artist Olha Tkachenko, who has illustrated two of Mutala’s other books. The Baba Babushka series is very popular; My Buddy Didowas short-listed for a Best Children’s Book nomination award at High Plains Book Awards in Montana, United States.
The launch of My Dearest Didowill coincide with Holodomor Awareness week across Canada during the fourth week of November. Schools in the Battlefords will participate in a variety of events intended to increase awareness of the Holodomor genocide. Mutala will be doing school visits during the day.
My Dearest Didois available at www.amazon.ca. Visit Marion Mutala’s website at www.babababushka.ca
