“There are three types of people in this world. Firstly, there are people who make things happen. Then there are people who watch things happen. Lastly, there are people who ask, what happened?” says author Steve Backley.

Two Red Deer authors, Jenna Butler and Sandra Butler Ladwig, are women who make things happen. At the Tuesday, January 29th “Meet the Author – A Fireside Chat”, a group of about 30 Red Deerians had the pleasure of finding out about Jenna Butler’s trip to Norway in her book Magnetic North, Sea Voyage to Svalbard. After the coffee, tea and snack break, they heard from Sandra Butler Ladwig as she shared from The Tiger of Your Dreams, 14 stories of adoptees reuniting with family members.

What a wonderful opportunity! Both authors vibrated with enthusiasm as they described the stories behind their books and their writing, as well as sharing interesting snippets from within each published edition.

Time was allotted for questions, the purchase of the books, and author signing–and all for the admission fee of two dollars.
Thanks to the Golden Circle and Joyce Scott, coordinator for the “Meet the Author – A Fireside Chat” series, these gatherings have been ongoing for the last three years. Local, published authors present four times a year: January, April, September and November.

The next “chat” will be held on April 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the Golden Circle and will showcase authors Fran Kimmel and Joyce Middlestead.

*** Magnetic North is available through the University of Alberta Press, Amazon, Chapters, or via Jenna Butler’s website, www.jennabutler.com.
To get The Tigers in Your Dreams, call Sandra Butler Ladwig at 403-343-7712 or email her at [email protected]

Jenna Butler is an author and scholar whose research into endangered environments has taken her from America’s deep south to Ireland’s ring of Kerry, and from Tenerife to the Arctic Circle, exploring the ways in which we navigate the landscapes we call home. Butler is the author of three critically acclaimed books of poetry. Her award-winning collection of ecological essays will be released in Autumn 2018. A professor of creative writing and ecocriticism at Red Deer College, Butler lives with three resident moose and a den of coyotes on an off-grid organic farm in Alberta’s north Country.

Sandra (Butler) Ladwig was a Parent Finder in Alberta for 49 years. She has located well over 500 missing persons and has assisted over 1000 people who just needed support and direction.  She has a twin brother George, who is a Private Investigator. George has been a great help with some of the searches Sandra has completed over the years.  Sandra worked as a legal secretary for 20 years and was able to assist the lawyers in her firm by locating the whereabouts of defendants so that they could be served with legal documents.  Sandra received the Bob Stollings Award from The City of Red Deer for going the extra mile. For 11 years she worked as a Volunteer in the Emergency Department of her local hospital. She received the First Lady of the Year Award from Beta Sigma Phi for her volunteer efforts.  She is hoping that her true stories will provide ideas and direction for adoptees who are up against a brick wall in their own searches.