Next Book Presented

Why I Wrote My Book on Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors? was my presentation to 39 people at ‘Arts Night’ in Ottawa on Friday evening October 31st, 2014.

The event was a monthly public educational meeting organized by a local artist for guest artists in literature, visual and music. I was the first of three speakers, each given up to half an hour to present and answer questions. It was a fun and educational experience with a diverse group.

I used my time to educate the audience about Doukhobors, talk about my last book and the next book in-progress — Spirit-Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers and their Friends (2016).

I was pleased that most of the audience had heard of Doukhobors, and three gave rather accurate descriptions. I wanted to deliver what I thought were the most important aspects of the Doukhobor movement before I talked about writing. To save time, I prepared a one-page handout.

I wrote the book for 3 reasons:

• biographies — our people
• misinformation — misconceptions, myths
• posterity — next generations

I gave summaries of 5 Doukhobors as sample biographies from my 2002 book and the update book in-progress.

• Peter Oglow (1913 - 2004)
• Nick Troubetzkoy
• Kim Kanigan
• Jim Deacove
• Elaine and Alfred Podovinikoff

Then I covered two misconceptions, and finished with a case for nurturing and educating our children towards a nonkilling society. We had time for 7 questions, added to the end of my text.

Read the text of my presentation and questions, and click on the images to see what was projected on the large screen. At the end is the handout. And here are 21 photos of this Arts Night.

Q62: Doukhobor hood credited to KKK?

From: Keith Tarasoff, Canora, Saskatchewan, August 20, 2014

In the Thursday August 14, 2014 issue of the Kamsack Times on page 13, there is an article : ‘Discovery of unusual hooded garment at Pelly museum leads to research of Ku Klux Klan activities in Saskatchewan.’

To my knowledge this garment was worn by Doukhobors to keep warm, and had nothing to do with the type of hood garment worn by the KKK.

As we at the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Verigin, Saskatchewan, believe the article was written with a reference in error to the real truth. We want to set the record straight. We are asking for your reaction to the article. Any insight would be helpful.

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Answer

You are correct Keith. The newspaper shows a Russian hood, called bashlyk (башлык), made by our Doukhobor ancestors. These were common in Imperial Russia.

Maureen Stefaniuk, the museum’s summer attendant, should retract any connection between their display and Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan. Canadians have been falsely selling Freedomites as Doukhobors for more than a century, now they are falsely displaying a Doukhobor garment as KKK.

Here are comparisons of 3 Russian-made bashliki with one of current fashion.

1. Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum exhibit, published in Kamsack Times.
2. Photo of a Doukhobor bashlyk by William Perehudoff, 'Costumes and Handicrafts in Color,'Pictorial History of the Doukhobors (1969), page 253.
3. Photo of bashlyk displayed online at National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve, Veshenskaya, Rostov Region, Russian Federation.
4. Typical hood-hat-scarf-gloves garment sold online and in many stores.

Fur trapper hats are somewhat similar and more common.

Doukhobor bashlyki are on display at the Doukhobor Discovery Centre in Castlegar, British Columbia; and at the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Verigin, Saskatchewan. The Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum can confirm their garment with these 2 museums.

Russian websites show many examples and instructions for making them. Modern English names and styles for this scarf-hat-hood garment vary. Many have animal heads and ears. Sometimes they are mislabeled “snood” — a hair net, which is not a contraction of “scarf-hood.”

Among non-Doukhobor Spiritual Christians from Russia in the USA (Dukh-i-zhizniki, Molokane), their women's' head covering for religious meetings which they call kosinka (triangle), evolved from a scarf of solid fabric to lace cut in a snood-style pattern.

More: Questions and Answers, Comments

Selling Freedomites as Doukhobors is False Advertising

Two events promoted in Nelson, British Columbia, have been fraudulently selling Freedomites (Svobodninki, Sons of Freedom) as Doukhobors — a movie and museum exhibit. Both events were promoted in the Nelson Star newspaper.

Canada has laws against consumer fraud, false advertising, counterfeit goods, bait-and-switch, identity theft, mislabeling, adulterated food, etc. Consumers want to be protected against deception, counterfeit products to be confiscated, defective products repaired or exchanged, businesses licensed and inspected, and perpetrators arrested.

If 'Doukhobor' was a trademarked commercial product, it would be a crime to promote the 'Doukhobor' label to the public, collect money but deliver something else. After more than half a century of public awareness education, this fraud is still happening in Canada because the word falsely lingers as a profitable commodity of sensationalized abuse, arson, bombings, nudity and terrorism.

Movie: The Change Agents (2012)

In mid-April 2014, Alex Atamanenko (Member of Parliament) gave Tarasoff a DVD copy of a movie to review which was produced by staff and students of L.V. Rogers Secondary School in Nelson, BC. Atamanenko saw it and wanted Tarasoff to comment. The movie shocked us. It’s been in the Kootenay news since October 2010. Why did no one tell us about it? Why was it not mentioned in the USCC Doukhobor monthly magazine Iskra? *

The opening minutes show 6 photos of Freedomites taken in the 1950s, 2 with nudity and fire, while the narration falsely states they are Doukhobors, pacifist spirit-wrestlers. Next, student actors joke about nude protests, arson and bombing; while their teacher discusses the Son of Freedom nude protests as examples of social activism.

While the movie promotes cleaning the environment, it pollutes the public perception of Doukhobors. The words ‘Doukhobor’ and ‘spirit-wrestler’ must be deleted from the movie and never be used to describe extremist actions of Freedomites (Russian: Svobodniki: also: Sons of Freedom).

Tarasoff complained to the movie owner/producers and writer about correcting this fraud. So far some have acknowledged the errors, but the current movie owner has not made the corrections. (See: Ottawa Screening of 'The Change Agents')

Photo Exhibit: Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History (2014)

On June 10, 2014, the Nelson Star website posted ‘Examining the Sons of Freedom’ about an exhibit of photos from the 1950s and 1960s at the Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, promoted with a photo of the current Doukhobor choir “Friends.” Tarasoff responded with an open letter to the paper and museum to correct two errors.

Your story implies that “Sons of Freedom” are “Doukhobors”. They are not the same! The story stated that ‘the photographs in this exhibit document a compelling chapter in the history of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors, as well as our community.’ To avoid stereotyping and discrimination, the word “Doukhobor” should not appear in this story, nor should it be used as a synonym.’ The exhibit title should be: ‘Sons of Freedom: Photographs from the Stevens Studio,

The original Russian term used by these separatists was Svobodniki (sovereign people), later called Freedomites, and by the 1920s journalists called them "Sons of Freedom" (Russian: Syny svobody).

Photos of Freedomites in the movie were obtained from the museum collection, online at Touchstones Nelson, flickr. Neither the newspaper nor the museum have responded.

Go to Court

Though the movie and photos don't directly refer to the USCC Doukhobors, the Council of Doukhobors in Canada (CDC), the Canadian Doukhobors Society (CDS), or the Doukhobor Society of Saskatoon (DSS); the intention to deceive the public about Doukhobors for profit and gain is obvious.

With no remorse, the paper promotes organizations which stigmatize Doukhobors with a powerfully negative label that changes their self-concept and social identity.

The only possible legal defense for such fraud is claiming that no entity owns the generic 'Doukhobor' label, therefore anyone is free to use it, abuse it, and misuse it as they wish, to fool the public for profit and personal gain. Though this is unethical, wrong, and dishonest; it's probably not illegal until someone takes the issue to court, or public protests bring shame to the perpetrators.

"[U.S.A.] trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that 'may disparage' individuals or groups or 'bring them into contempt or disrepute.'..." (Washington Redskins' Federal Trademarks Cancelled, the two-way, National Public Radio, June 18, 2014.)

For now, buyer and reader beware — caveat emptor.

Short link to this page: goo.gl/7xdrmi

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* A search of the USCC Doukhobor web site found the movie was mentioned in USCC News twice with no comments or further information. A query to the Iskra editor revealed that the USCC board voted to be mute, a vow of silence, regarding Freedomites, a topic too sensitive for public discussion.

• Oct. 30, 2012 - Local film has world premiere
• Feb 12, 2013 - Amnesty International Film Festival at the BCC - Sat. Feb.16

— By Koozma J. Tarasoff and Andrei Conovaloff.

Ottawa Screening of 'The Change Agents'

On June 3rd, 80 people attended a screening of the movie The Change Agents (2012) in Ottawa, Ontario.

This full length movie (~90 minutes) produced by the secondary school in Nelson, B.C., uses 6 archival news photos of Freedomites to introduce fictional characters who protest against environmental pollution. Nudity and burning is shown, and bombing is joked about.

L to R: Elizabeth May (MP leader of the Green Party), Robyn
Sheppard (Writer/Director), Cathy Orlando (National Manager,
Canada's Citizen Climate Lobby), Sarah Miller Hayward (Producer),
and Alex Atamanenko (MP for BC Southern Interior)

The event was supported by Canada's Citizen Climate Lobby (CCCL) and coordinated by MP Alex Atamanenko and his office, to lobby Parliament during Environment Week. Most of the audience, including myself, were climate activists from Ontario, 8 were Parliamentarians (17 had RSVP'd), and 4 who made the movie (2 actors, a producer, and the writer/director) came from Nelson, B.C.

Atamanenko represents the riding (electoral district) were the movie was made. In October 2011, he visited the school during production and announced it to Parliament.

From about 70 volunteer amateur actors recruited from the Nelson area to make the movie, 2 attended.

English actors for Deda and Ruby.

Mike Coons (who played grandfather, deda) told me that he served briefly in the military before becoming a carpenter and plumber in Nelson; and he worked closely with local Doukhobor workers on the Kootenay River dam projects. Lucy Carver Brennan (Ruby) was in Grade 6 in Nelson when she auditioned.

Though the production notes showed 4 actors with Russian surnames, 3 appeared in the movie and only one had a speaking role. Ryan Hayward (played by Dylan Zaitsoff) is the main antagonist who verbally abuses and harasses the star character, Carly Dutoff, a fictional descendant of Freedomites (played by Susannah Rebar). The notes also show 4 characters with Russian surnames, all played by English actors.

The movie opened in Nelson on February 2nd, 2013, was shown at the USCC Doukhobor Brilliant Cultural Center (Feb 16th, 2013) and a few places in North America and Europe. The film has been translated into several languages and is online in Spanish.

A co-producer and now owner of the movie, Sarah Miller Hayward told me that she had film experience in Hollywood and Toronto before coming to Nelson, BC. Next, she and Jo Ann Lowell (Executive Producer) are going to Toronto to seek support to promote the film to a larger audience. Many participants hope the movie will boost their careers.

Prior to the screening, I presented my comments (excerpt):

BUT, as a Doukhobor historian, the movie immediately troubled and shocked me. The opening scene shows sensational archival news footage of nudity and burnings by a small group of Freedomites, which is a breakaway faction from the Doukhobors. Their actions are not the same as the Doukhobors, resulting in confusion and discrimination.

Freedomites terrorized Canadian society expressing their displeasure with government. Doukhobors have never supported their extremist actions, and have greatly suffered whenever they were and are falsely presented as Freedomites.

Robyn Sheppard, writer/director

I presented a copy of Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living to Robyn Sheppard, writer/director, who did not know that the small number of sensationalized Freedomites were not Doukhobors. She apologized for any misconceptions due to her script. She said her main intent was to highlight the urgency and importance of the environmental issues to world health.

She grew up in the Toronto area, but 18 years ago moved to the West Kootenays where she taught drama at the Mount Sentinnel High School in the Slocan Valley near Nelson, British Columbia, and met many local Doukhobor students.

When asked if she will correct the mistakes, Producer Hayward said that she would 'have a look at it.'

More

Koozma J. Tarasoff. 'The Sons of Freedom — a Flashback to 1956: Origins, problems, misconceptions, and relationship to Doukhobors.' — Updated reprint of "The 'Sons of Freedom'," The Inquirer (Vol. 3, No. 5, June 1956: 9-13).

Canada's Citizens Climate Lobby. The Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy group that trains and supports volunteers to engage elected officials and the media for generating the political will to find solutions for climate change. There are 170 CCL chapters in North America covering over 40 ridings in Canada and more than half the congressional districts in the USA.

Spirit-Wrestlers Blog: Selling Freedomites as Doukhobors is False Advertising

Error in the 'Change Agents' movie end credits — "An Angel Flew at Midnight", United in Song (2009 album), Performed by: The Victoria Doukhobor Group, should say "Performed by: The Victoria Island Doukhobor Community Association (VIDCA), with the Vision of Peace Youth Choir, Castlegar, B.C."

CBC Contributes to Doukhobor Name Hijacking

Note: The following is an open letter to the Canadian Broadcasting Service with a plea to correct its stories on the Doukhobor Movement.

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Anna Maria Tremonti

The Current, CBC Radio
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
Canada

Dear Anna Maria Tremonti,

I am a regular listener to The Current, your excellent radio program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). For decades my family considered the CBC as the 'gold standard' in journalism.

However, in the morning of August 7, 2012, Jim Brown hosted a documentary called 'An Apology for the Doukhobors', with an 20-minute segment by freelance journalist Kalyeena Makortoff, testimonies by several New Denver Survivors, and an interview with Dulcie McCallum, former Ombudsman for British Columbia who investigated the Survivors civil rights complaint 13 years ago in the interior of BC. The story began as follows:

'During the 1950s, Doukhobors in the Kootenay region of British Columbia rejected the provincial education system and refused to register births, marriages and deaths. They would march naked, home-school their children and set fire to buildings ...'

The story is very familiar to me because as an anthropologist, historian and published author, I have studied the Doukhobors for over 55 years.

I have already critically reviewed Makortoff's earlier story pointing out the genuine trauma of the children who experienced the New Denver Residential School from 1953 to 1959. (See: Review of News Article about Residential School Apology, 24 May 2012). I pointed out the need for (1) their parents to apologize for opposing their children from going to public school, as well as (2) for the government to apologize to all Doukhobors for mislabelling them as nudists, arsonists and bombers.

To maintain your high standard of journalism, please correct the following which I have found to be lacking in your current story:

• Doukhobors and Sons of Freedom (or zealots, as I call them) are two separate groups. They are not the same even though there is a tendency for zealots to call themselves 'real' or 'only' Doukhobors.
• Zealots did not evolve as a body in Russia, but in Western Canada. 
• Doukhobors are not nudists, arsonists or bombers. These are actions of individual extremists who do not uphold the central Doukhobor beliefs of nonviolence, nonkilling, compassion, and love. (See: Confusing Doukhobors And Nudists, 1 Feb 2012)
• After the 1895 arms burning in Russia, the Doukhobors ceased to be a sect, and became a "social movement."
• Please be aware of the tendency of zealots to hijack the Doukhobor Movement as their own. 

You are no doubt aware that the media can make or break a story. Since the early 1900s, the Doukhobors have been maligned and misreported by much of the mass media. Largely, this has been aided by extremist elements, addicted to sensationalism, who are not Doukhobor in behaviour, such as those who strip, burn and bomb. This is an addiction of a real kind and a hijacking of the wider Doukhobor Movement. Yellow journalists find these stories attractive because they sell papers and make money for their owners — but it is bad journalism and is discriminatory.

Surely, CBC has a higher standard of truthfulness, fairness and balance than the yellow press! The Current is one of the flagships of your great public institution. Surely, you need to become educated on the Doukhobors, one of Canada's minority groups. Surely, you ought to distance yourself from the hijack model used by some of your competitors and fuelled by extremists with their own agendas. It is time for CBC to live up to its calling as a truly national institution that 'informs, enlightens and entertains'.

For  more information on the Doukhobors, see my 2002 book Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living, as well as my websites Spirit-Wrestlers.com and Spirit-Wrestlers Blog.

In search of truth and fairness,

Koozma J. Tarasoff
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Email: kjtarasoff@gmail.com

cc. Jim Brown
August 9, 2012

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CBC Response

On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 5:21 PM, Audience Services <Audience_Services@cbc.ca> wrote:
Dear Mr Tarasoff,

We received your letter in CBC National Audience Relations where we respond to audience correspondence. Thank you for sharing your views with The Current, CBC Radio 1.

On August 7, 2012, you wrote that you listened to The Current (hosted by Jim Brown) where you heard a presentation about the Doukhobors.  You wrote that you did not agree with some of the viewpoints presented on the show and you also shared information in your letter, that you felt was "lacking" in that report.

We have noted your comments in our weekly national audience reaction report that is circulated to executive and production teams across Canada. They will be made aware of your concerns on this subject.

We also appreciate that you have taken time to share your views with The Current and CBC RADIO.

Sincerely
Maza Molar
Communications Officer
——————————
On Wed. Oct 31, 2012, Koozma Tarasoff replied:

Dear Maza Molar,

I appreciated receiving a response from the CBC about my comments on a Current program hosted by Jim Brown. It is good to know that CBC cares for its listeners.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Koozma J. Tarasoff

Book Review: A Troubled Personality Revealed

Nerys Parry, Man & Other Natural Disasters (Winnipeg, Manitoba: Enfield and Wizenty, an imprint of Great Plains Publications, 2011), 214 pp. ISBN 9878-1-926531-12-0. $29.95.

Updated 15 May 2022. 

On November 10, I became alarmed after reading a local news item (now offline) announcing that Doukhobors were mentioned in a new book. Was another award-winning author slandering the Doukhobors? Here's what I read about the book signing event. 

'Man and Other Natural Disasters delves into turbulent acts in Canada's past. The Sons of Freedom, an offshoot of the Doukhobors protested against government interference with mass nudity, arson and explosives. That past terrorism is analogous to what's happening now in many parts of the world. Nerys spent many hours reading the actual diaries of the Sons of Freedom. She was surprised how closely the situation happening in Bountiful B.C. mirrors what happened decades ago.

'Man and Other Natural Disasters is a thoughtful and frightening novel on what happens when extremism takes over a religion or belief system.

'Nerys was a finalist for the 2011 Colophon Prize and tied for seventh out of more than 130 books in the Giller Prize Reader's Choir Award contest....'

I bought the book and read it before the bookstore signing event. 

Reviewer Koozma J. Tarasoff (right) exchanged books with author Nerys Parry (left)

I had to read the book and meet Nerys Parry to discuss why I thought the news announcement was misleading, in two ways:

1. Those Sons of Freedom who burnt, bombed and went naked distanced themselves from the main Doukhobor Movement, and therefore they excluded themselves from it. The word 'Doukhobor' does not belong here and therefore should not be used in association with the zealots. When used, it is a case of exploitation and slander against a peaceful group.
   
   
2. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church) — polygamist Mormons in Bountiful, BC — have no connection to the Sons of Freedom nor to the Doukhobors. Why make reference to Bountiful here which is currently in the news — unless its purpose is to draw on some kind of sensationalism to sell books. Publicists should stop the crass capitalistic practise of maligning and exploiting another group with the intent of selling a product and gaining a financial interest.

Upon meeting the author and further studying her book, my worries passed. She led me to further research in which I found that mental illness played a major role in sabotaging Doukhobor history.

The fictitious main character, Simon Peters, is presented as a creative bookbinder in the basement of the Calgary Public Library. The story involves the tragedy of his family from natural and man-made causes.Towards the end it turns out that Simon is really Seymon, an extreme zealot from the interior of British Columbia whose family was involved in a series of disasters in the form of terrorism. The Seymon character was largely inspired by diaries that the author found in the Library and Archives Canada for Fred N. Davidoff 1944-1970 (MG 31 H26) (MIKAN 102610). Davidoff was born 1924 in the Cowley area of Alberta.

Around the year 2000, the author Nerys Parry first developed the Simon character, but the manuscript lay dormant for some time. In 2005-2006, Nerys and a colleague worked on a story about the effects of chemical, biological and radiological experiments in the Canadian Forces Base at Suffield, Alberta on the veterans who were used as human testers during the World War II period. When blacked out materials from RCMP records hindered the full development of the Suffield story, Nerys discovered an adjacent Davidoff File in the Archives as being a wonderful fit for Simon. The Simon story was further developed and the publisher preferred the new version. Perhaps Canada going into Afghanistan had something to do with the decision, even though the last veterans of Suffield were quickly dying out? 

I examined all 3 boxes of Fred N. Davidoff 's archives (fonds) and learned that Davidoff was worse than I had previously known. I knew that Simma Holt's Terror in the Name of God: the Story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors (1964) was based on information that Fred Davidoff had given to this Vancouver Sun reporter. He is mentioned 20 times in her book and featured in the chapter: 'Autobiography of a Fanatic' (page 217+). Within several years, Davidoff flip-flopped his fabricated views in order to gain parole from nine years in jail.

The result of all of this was that the Doukhobors as a whole were blackballed by Simma Holt and by her main informant Fred Davidoff with the false claim of nudity, bombings and burnings. These acts were real, but they were perpetrated by individuals who closely sided with zealotry and a few with terrorism. These acts were contrary to Doukhobor beliefs, and were not performed by independent nor community Doukhobors.

From his archived diaries, letters, and accounts by others, I learned that Fred N. Davidoff's behaviour was that of a classic psychopath, mostly ignored in Holt's book. He was an extreme fanatic, a con artist who fabricated much of what he said about the Doukhobor name and thereby misled Canadian reporters. He was mentally unstable, was an informant to the police, was one who could not be trusted, and people feared him. He was a person with a vivid imagination of himself. Most damning of all was that he had a habit of slandering many innocent Doukhobor people with terrorism.

In my response to seeking justice and truth, it has taken me and several of my friends some fifty years to try to correct the misinformed damage that has been done by the team Simma and Fred. In a real sense, both Holt and Davidoff hijacked the Doukhobor identity.

In the conclusion of her book Man and Other Natural Disasters, Nerys Parry states: 'I would like to clarify that Simon/Seymon and his family are fictional characters, and any similarity with living or dead persons is coincidental....'

Whenever possible, Nerys stuck to some of the known facts that occurred during the turmoil in the 1950s and 1960 — such as the Polatka (tents) affair in the Kootenays in 1953, the New Denver institution for kids of zealots from 1953 to 1959 (surrounded by a high chain-link fence), the RCMP infamous Special D. (Doukhobor) Squad, and the death of Harry Kootnikoff in 1962 while making a pocket watch bomb. All this Nerys admits in her Notes and Acknowledgements.

Obviously Nerys enjoys straddling the divide between science and fiction. This is real talent — and she is very good at it. In fact, the large part of the book on Simon Peters was so congruent that I believed him to be a bookbinder in Calgary, Alberta and that his parents were ranchers. When Simon has a complete mental breakdown and becomes Seymon in the office of a British Columbia psychiatrist, this is sudden transformation. At the end, when this split personality goes back to Calgary, as the reader, I am not sure who this real character is. Is he from Alberta or from British Columbia? Is he a passionate bookbinder or an unpredictable person? Is he a gentle pacifist or a dangerous terrorist?

To her credit as a skilled writer, Nerys Parry has minimised stereotyping the Doukhobors by avoiding the use of the name. (I found only two times the word was used in 214 pages, and one was in the title of a book.) Instead, Nerys has carefully used terms such as Sons of Freedom, Svobodniki, and Freedomites. Not Doukhobors. Yet, with much negative association with the past, when zealots and authors (such as Simma Holt) have hijacked the Doukhobors identity, it becomes difficult to dissociate one from the other. It is similar to the stigma that Muslims today receive from terrorists (who are not real Muslims).

Separating fact from fiction is a very delicate process even for a sensitive and innovative young writer such as Nerys Parry. She has done very well in this book. She has raised the bar for future writers to be very sensitive when straddling science with fiction. The book is worth a read.

• Excerpt of  Man & Other Natural Disasters, PDF, first 17 pages. 
• Press Release: "A Delightfully-Quirky Novel!" -- New Nurture Virtual Book Tour For “Man & Other Natural Disasters” By Nerys Parry – On Tour Until February 3rd, 2012.  Nerys Parry, author of the novel, "Man & Other Natural Disasters", tours with Nurture Virtual Book Tourz in January and February.
• 'About Simon' : Nerys on Roger TV, Oct 28, 2011 — Nerys talks to Daytime hosts Derick & Lois about how the character Simon came to her, and what it was like working with an unreliable narrator.
• The Book : Synopsis of Man & Other Natural Disasters with review praise, by Nerys Parry, 2012. (Offline, Archived) 
• A brief biography, Nerys Parry Blog (Offline, archived May 2013)
• Parry's Facebook page.
• Straddling the divides: fact, fiction and Freedomites. Parry's blog about our meeting. (Offline, Archived March 13, 2013).
• The 'Sons of Freedom' — a Flashback to 1956: Origins, problems, misconceptions, and relationship to Doukhobors. — Re-introduced by Koozma J. Tarasoff, August 19, 2009. My comprehensive description.

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