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This profile
written by a student of the University of Ottawa is about a current
club member.
Barbara Florio Graham
By
Richard Kamen,
University of Ottawa student
Barbara
Florio Graham, “Bobbi”, joined the National Press Club in
1975 and joined the
Ottawa
branch of the
Media
Club next. Although Ms. Graham fully supports the goals of the Media
Club she is unable to attend most events.
During
the club’s 100th
anniversary conference she did have a role
in
the play re-enacting the creation of the Canadian Women’s Press
Club.
She
thought the play was fun and entertaining and also appreciated meeting
so many other female journalists while at the 100th
anniversary celebration.
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Ms
Graham grew up in Hamden, Connecticut which is very close to Yale
University. She has been writing since she was a young
girl. She was first published at the age of nine in a children’s
magazine which gave her a free subscription and five dollars for her
submission.
Upon
finishing high school Ms. Graham earned a B.A degree from Columbia
University where she majored in English, specializing in writing and
theatre, and minoring in music.
She
has written in many genres. When she was young she focused on short
stories and then moved on to public relation firms and newspapers as
she
got older.
Today
Ms. Graham lives in Gatineau, Quebec, where she regularly writes
columns for several publications such as The
West Quebec Post, Log Cabin Chronicles, Scribe and Freelance
Writer’s Report.
She is also an active member of writing organizations such as the
Canadian Association of Journalists and the Cat Writers Association.
Ms. Graham is the author of three books: Five
Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five fast Steps to Low Cost Publicity,
and Mewsings/Musings
which was co-authored with her cat,
Simon
Teakettle.
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In
her free time Ms. Graham mentors writers, is a book publishing
consultant and gives workshops in book promotion, recycling your
writing and humor writing. She also maintains a website - simonteakettle.com -
which specializes in “Offering expert online
training, mentoring, books, and special projects.”
Bobbi with Terzo -
Simon Teakettle 111
Since
this profile was written Bobbi has served as Managing Editor of a
project that led to the publication of Prose
to Go, Tales from a Private List, an anthology of 34
first-person pieces from 18 Canadian writers, published early in 2011
by Bridgeross. Bobbi co-designed the cover and handled negotiations
with the publisher so that contributors paid nothing to have the book
published. -Editor
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