Hello, and welcome to my website.
I write … non-fiction books, essays, memoirs, magazine articles, the occasional speech, and yes, of course, I have a novel in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. All in good time, says I.
I also help others with their writing. This support is divided into two categories: in-person teaching (workshops and retreats) and in-person and distance consulting. The latter I conduct via email, in person, and by telephone.
If you give me an hour, I guarantee I can bolster your writing life to a place you can only just imagine right now, a place of enthusiasm, energy, and joy. Please check out my Consulting Page for details.
Thanks for stopping by.
In Bookstores Now
Available from Amazon.ca, Nimbus.ca, and independent bookstores.
Click HERE to see a full list of my books on Amazon.ca.
In Search of Puffins
In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light, and Flight, is the third in a trio of memoirs by journalist and author, Marjorie Simmins. Preceded by Coastal Lives and Year of the Horse, this final memoir in the series honours the author’s late husband, writer and filmmaker Silver Donald Cameron, and their twenty-two-year marriage. At its heart, Puffins is a story of grit and determination to find light and purpose again after great loss. The story highlights the saving graces of friendship and laughter, and the rebirth of optimism.
“For everyone who’s loved, for everyone who’s lost, Puffins is a deep dive into the disorienting world of grief – and how it can make or break us. It is also a profoundly optimistic book, believing in the healing powers of friendship, laughter, and time.”
– Donna Morrissey, author of the memoir, Pluck
“This is a book of great love and great loss, a story of two writers brought together by a passion for words. Marjorie Simmins is left to find her way alone when Silver Donald Cameron—author, journalist, filmmaker, sailor, and love of her life—departs too soon. This moving book is not only a tribute to what they shared but a gift to all those who, like the author, must learn with a “closed-up heart” to dream again.”
– Harry Thurston, Lost River, The Waters of Remembrance, A Memoir
“A lovely book. Lyrical and profoundly moving. Written with a poet’s heart and a born storyteller’s narrative drive. From the first page Simmins takes us a journey that so many of us will experience, sparing none of the confusion, fear, heartbreak, and illumination she experiences along the way.”
– John DeMont, author of The Long Way Home.
Links
Author Marjorie Simmins releases new memoir to honour late husband
The Unspoken Power Of Memoir Writing: Marjorie Simmins’ Emotional Author Journey
Maritime Memoirs: In Search of Puffins by Marjorie Simmins
Somebeachsomewhere: The Harness Racing Legend from a One-Horse Stable
A comprehensive, fully illustrated biography of Nova Scotia’s Somebeachsomewhere, the greatest standardbred pacer of all time, from the award-winning author of Year of the Horse.
It’s November 2006 and Brent MacGrath, a car salesman from Nova Scotia, has just had his first glimpse of a gorgeous yearling at the Lexington Yearling Sale—and his heart skips a beat. He takes another look. Even this young, the bay stallion has size and “presence.” Against all odds, and with limited funds, MacGrath makes a successful bid for the colt.
Somebeachsomewhere: The Harness Racing Legend from a One-Horse Stable is a work of narrative non-fiction that follows the life and career of the Ohio-born, Canadian-sired superstar pacer known as “Beach” who belonged to a syndicate of six owners from Canada’s East Coast. From a relatively humble lineage, Somebeachsomewhere turned out to be a horse of a lifetime: a world-champion Hall of Famer, smashing records and setting a single-season earning record as a three-year-old. Many consider Beach, who died unexpectedly in 2018, the greatest pacer and Standardbred sire of all time. Canadian and American racing fans loved the friendly stallion with “an extra gear,” and threw “Beach Parties” whenever he raced.
This is the first-ever complete, generously illustrated account of “the Beach,” a horse who captivated the world with his speed, courage and near-flawless gait. It is also a story of improbabilities and magic, featuring dozens of interviews with top American and Canadian horsemen and women, the owners of Empire Stallions in Avenel, Australia, and harness racing industry professionals.
Memoir: Conversations and Craft
Memoir: Conversations and Craft is intended for any reader who is fascinated by personal life stories that demand to be read, refuse to be forgotten. Whether you are an emerging or experienced writer, this reflection on writing can galvanize you.
Included in this celebration of memoir are interviews with best-selling memoirists and top fiction writers: Lawrence Hill, Plum Johnson, Linden MacIntyre, Edmund Metatawabin, Donna Morrissey, Claire Mowat, and Diane Schoemperlen. All speak with candour, humour, and compassion about their journey to memoir.
“For everyone who has ever whispered, ‘I have a story to tell,’ this is the book you’ve been waiting for. It’s an imaginative how-to-write-a-memoir from a pro. Great reading. Terrific tips.”
—Sally Armstrong, journalist and author of The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor
“Marjorie’s conversations with the likes of Lawrence Hill, Claire Mowat, Linden MacIntyre and many more are profoundly insightful and fascinating. They inspired and enlightened me in so many ways. She is a master interviewer, writer, conversationalist and thinker and spending time with her on these pages is pure joy.”
—James Mullinger, Editor-in-Chief, The Maritime Edit
Year of the Horse
Dynamic and lyrical, Marjorie Simmins’ new non-fiction book, Year of the Horse is about her life with horses on the East and West Coasts of Canada. Published in 2016, by Pottersfield Press, Year of the Horse is a true story of grit, determination and luck.
“This is a remarkable tale about a woman who falls hard from horses, but never ceases to fall for horses. The result is an illuminating chronicle of the horse-human bond.” Lawrence Scanlan, author of Wild About Horses.
Coastal Lives
Award-winning writer and journalist, Marjorie Simmins tells this story of love and resistance with humour and candour. Published in 2014, also with Pottersfield Press, Coastal Lives was Marjorie Simmins’ first book.
“Simmins is a terrific writer with a terrific tale to tell. It’s the urgency and passion of her prose that makes her memoir such gripping reading. At the heart of her story is the unfolding of an extraordinary love affair between her on the Pacific Coast and, 4000 miles east on the Atlantic, fellow writer Silver Donald Cameron.”
— Harry Bruce, author and journalist