Get to know Diana Stevan, author of Lilacs in the Dust Bowl
I’ve been on an “everything is connected” kick lately.
A few weeks ago, I listened to the audiobook of Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which is all about the beautiful world of fungi and the networks they form with other organisms.
The other week, I read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, another reminder of the impact one being can have on another life and that your experiences now, no matter how big or small, can influence your life later on.
And then I learned more about author Diana Stevan.
I’m always on the hunt for books about anything Ukrainian, so her 2019 novel Sunflowers Under Fire caught my attention. This book shares the story of Diana’s grandmother’s life in Ukraine.
Learn more about Diana Stevan on her website.
In May 2021, Diana released the sequel Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, which follows her grandmother’s story of immigrating to Canada, to none other than Manitoba, my home province. I’m a few chapters into Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, and it’s fun to feel like an insider as a Manitoban, knowing the communities firsthand that Diana references and even local newspapers mentioned (like the Stonewall Argus, where I worked one summer!).
Now to bring it back to how everything is connected. Well, Diana’s Ukrainian heritage has inspired her work, as have her past experiences like working as a family therapist (read on below to see how this has helped her writing). And many people who have Ukrainian roots will find parts of their family’s story in Diana’s books.
Diana was kind enough to do a Q+A with me, providing incredibly thoughtful answers that will give you more insight into her writing process and her books.
You can read more about Diana and her other novels on her website. (In this blog post, I really enjoyed learning more about the process of deciding on the cover for Sunflowers Under Fire. Also, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl features a photo of her father!)
Diana’s books are available on Amazon and eBook platforms. If you’re in Winnipeg or Saskatoon, you can ask McNally Robinson Booksellers to bring her books in for you.
For those in Winnipeg, contact McNally Robinson Booksellers to purchase Diana’s books locally.
Q+A with Diana Stevan
Kaitlin Vitt: You released Sunflowers Under Fire in 2019 and Lilacs in the Dust Bowl in 2021. Both of these books follow your grandmother’s story. You’ve mentioned you’re writing a third and final book to complete what you’re calling Lukia’s Family Saga. Did you go into writing Sunflowers Under Fire with the idea that you’d write more about your grandmother’s story in other books, or when did you realize you wanted to continue sharing it?
Diana Stevan: I had no intention of writing a sequel to Sunflowers Under Fire, but readers wanted to know what happened to Lukia. They told me they wanted to keep reading about her and her family. So, since I had my mother’s anecdotes about her family’s immigration to Canada and life on the prairies during the Great Depression, I began researching that time. And now, I’ve begun writing the third book, which has to do with my mother and father’s love story and the Second World War in the background.
KV: Was Sunflowers Under Fire the first time your work had a Ukrainian-culture theme? Did something in particular draw you to writing about your family’s history at that time?
DS: Before writing Sunflowers Under Fire, I’d written a romantic mystery and a psychological fiction. [See Diana’s books here.] I never thought I’d write something based on my family history, even though my mother had said her family’s stories would make a good book. It wasn’t until I had grandchildren of my own, and my oldest granddaughter, after hearing an anecdote about her great-great-grandmother, said I should write a book about her. That was the push I needed.
KV: Why did you choose to tell your grandmother’s story through fiction rather than non-fiction?
DS: I chose to tell her story through fiction because there were too many holes in my mother’s tales. I had snippets about events that took place over the years, but there were a lot of blanks to fill. When I first started sharing chapters with my writers’ critique group, we talked about whether or not I should publish it as non-fiction. In the end, I rejected the idea, because I had created too many supporting characters as well as conversations and situations.
KV: How did you balance filling in missing details with fiction while still accurately portraying your family's history?
DS: I knew the personalities of my grandmother and her children later in life. Knowing how they reacted as adults helped me understand how they’d react as children and teenagers. It helped that I understand human behaviour through my years as a family therapist. And I had enough of my mother’s anecdotes, the beginning and ending of meaningful episodes, that I could reasonably imagine how they unfolded. I wouldn’t say what I’ve portrayed is entirely accurate, but it gives a good account of how things were and their day-to-day struggles in both the old and new country.
KV: What was the research and writing process like?
DS: My first book took about six to seven years to write and research. I visited libraries in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, and New York. Even one in Stamford, Connecticut, which has a substantial library about Ukraine and its history.
Lilacs in the Dust Bowl took less than two years. Because I couldn’t travel, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had time to write. And I could do much of my research from my home. Since most of the story of Lilacs in the Dust Bowl takes place in Canada, I could access newspaper archives online, which told me about farming conditions, weather, and politics during the Great Depression. I had also borrowed library books prior to the pandemic that informed me of the times.
Diana hosted a virtual book launch with the Vancouver Island Regional Library on May 13.
I did most of the research before writing the book, but as I wrote, questions would arise and I had to go back into the library or find agricultural sites online that helped me fill in the details.
My cousin, Jean, who was a baby when she arrived in Canada with her parents and my grandmother, also contributed some anecdotes. She’s in her early nineties now. The stories she told occurred when she started school and were included in the later chapters of my novel.
KV: You include lots of details about Ukrainian culture, such as folk beliefs/superstitions and traditions. Did you learn this through your research, or were some of these stories passed down to you?
DS: My mother and baba were superstitious. Most of the traditions and superstitions were stories passed down as well as observed while I was growing up.
KV: What kind of Ukrainian traditions do you celebrate today?
DS: We still have the twelve meatless dishes along with kutya on Christmas Eve. And I make Ukrainian dishes, like holuptsi and varenyky for both the Christmas and Easter meals. We colour eggs and tap each other’s eggs at the end of the Easter meal, while saying Christ is Risen, Indeed He is Risen (in Ukrainian). Every year, along with my daughter and grandson, we make pysanky and I bake paska.
Unfortunately, we live too far away from a Ukrainian Orthodox church to attend or to have our Easter basket blessed. I’m sad about that and the fact that I haven’t been able to organize Panakhyda, prayers for the dead, which was an annual event when I was growing up.
“ It wasn’t easy writing about my family, and yet it proved to be so rewarding.”
KV: Have you always felt connected to your Ukrainian heritage?
DS: Very much so. Though I was born in Winnipeg, Ukrainian was my first language. My baba, Lukia Mazurec (Mazurets in the old country) came to live with us when I was nine months old. We attended church regularly, and for two consecutive summers as a teenager, I attended a six-week summer program focused on Ukrainian studies at St. Andrew’s College in Winnipeg.
Being a child of immigrants, they made sure I learned the language, customs, songs, and dance. I attended Ukrainian language classes at the Ukrainian National Federation Hall in Winnipeg. I feel so fortunate to have had that instruction.
KV: How much of your grandmother’s story did you know before you started writing these books?
DS: I shared a bedroom with my baba for the first 15 years of my life, but she never talked about her life in the old country or in Canada. Perhaps it was too painful for her to bring it up, for bringing it up meant she’d have to relive the hard times.
My mother though was a wonderful oral storyteller. When Mom reached her senior years, I decided I’d better write her account of what happened in the old country and in Canada. That’s how I ended up with over 100 pages of notes. I also have some audio and video recordings of her stories.
KV: What was it like writing about your own family? Did you find yourself holding back certain details or events that your family experienced?
DS: It wasn’t easy writing about my family, and yet it proved to be so rewarding. In the writing, I feel I’ve discovered who my baba was as a woman, not just as a grandmother. And the same can be said of my mother and father, and the other relatives in my family. I see them as loving people with hopes and dreams like we all have.
I also wanted to give an honest account and not a varnished one. They didn’t always get along and some fights were hard to bear. I understand that because I was a family therapist for 25 years. Every family has its good times and bad times, as that is life. As for holding back certain details, there were a few, but I left them out, as I didn’t think they added anything of value.
“Sometimes, out of nowhere, as if my muse has spoken, I’ll come up with a phrase or a sentence that appeals. ”
KV: Though you write about your own family’s story, I know that many in the Ukrainian diaspora will relate to your writing since they will see parts of their family’s history in these books. While writing, do you take that into consideration, or are you simply trying to share your own family’s story (and people just so happen to relate to it)?
DS: I didn’t think of how my first novel would relate to those in the Ukrainian diaspora. Of course, I hoped it would, but I also hoped it would relate to those who came from families with a different ethnic origin. Some things are universal. There are many families who have mothers, who’ve sacrificed much in order to provide love and security for their children.
KV: Why do you write? I realize this is a broad question, but I am curious about some of your motivations!
DS: I love the surprise of writing. What I mean by that is that sometimes, out of nowhere, as if my muse has spoken, I’ll come up with a phrase or a sentence that appeals.
And perhaps I was drawn to writing because I was an only child in a house with three adults. Growing up, I rarely shared what was going on with me. It was the way it was. Children weren’t encouraged to have the voice they do now. However, I was very loved and supported. I was also shy, and I learned to be an observer. I love words. I get that from my father, who shared his love of poetry with me as well as his love of books. Our trips to the library fed my appetite for good stories.
I started writing seriously in my early 20s and had a few newspaper articles published, but writing as a career didn’t seem like a guaranteed way of making a living. So it was put on a shelf until our children grew up and my career as a family therapist ended. It’s still a precarious way to make a living, but I’m very fortunate I have the means to pursue my love of writing.
Thanks so much to Diana for taking the time to answer these questions. After you buy her books online or from a local bookstore and read them, get in touch or comment below — maybe you’ll even see some bits and pieces similar to your own family’s history.
Because remember, everything is connected.