Gilda Morina Syverson and Bruce McIntyre Bring Their Search for Answers to the Page

Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:33 — 54.6MB)

In this episode 377, we feature two Charlotte area memoirists, Gilda Morina Syverson and Bruce McIntyre, whose memoirs have garnered wide praise from the writing community. We focus on Gilda’s recent book, “A Healing Journey, From 9/11 Beyond the Pandemic,” and Bruce’s book, “There Are No Answers Here, Only Questions.” In addition to diving into their themes of healing while navigating life’s questions, we tap into their expertise to learn more about memoir writing.

Show discussion highlights:

  • Their inspiration for writing their memoirs
  • What they discovered as a result of writing the memoirs
  • Searching for answers when there are only questions
  • Mysticism and spirituality
  • Opening oneself up in memoir
  • Readings from the books
  • Memoir writing advice

Author bios:

Gilda Morina Syverson

Gilda Morina Syverson is an award-winning writer, poet, artist, teacher and speaker who has taught memoir-writing classes and workshops for over twenty-three years. Her Italian-American heritage is the impetus for her new memoir, A Healing Journey, From 9/11 Beyond the Pandemic. She is also the author of the award-winning memoir, My Father’s Daughter, From Rome to Sicily, and two collections of poems, Facing the Dragon and In This Dream Everything Remains Inside.

Gilda was a Novello Literary Award Finalist, a Nominee for the Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction, a 2016 Nominee for Author of the Year for the Artist Guild Award, a 2016 Honorable Mention for the New England Book Festival, the 2017 Runner-Up for Autobiography in the Great Southeast Book Festival, and others.

Gilda’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals, anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and online sites in the United States and Canada. She has discussed and read her work on podcasts and for programs in the United States, Canada, and Italy. Her essay, “Healing,” was published in People Places Passages, An Anthology of Canadian Writing.

Gilda is a Healing Touch Practitioner and was awarded a scholarship for the Healing Touch Worldwide Conference, A Healers’ Retreat during the writing of A Healing Journey, From 9/11 beyond the Pandemic. Gilda lives outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, Stu.

Bruce McIntyre

Bruce calls St. Louis, Missouri, his hometown, but his father’s work required frequent transfers, so Bruce, an only child, often moved with his parents in those early years.

He completed his education at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and quickly found his way to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Procter & Gamble. Like his father’s work, P&G required relocation. While living in Indianapolis, Indiana, he met and married his wife, Joyce. More moves followed: Kansas City, Kansas; Palatine, Illinois (a Chicago suburb); and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Bruce then decided to leave his nomadic corporate life and start his own business. The couple chose Charlotte, North Carolina, as their new forever home and have been a part of the community since 1979. His business, McIntyreSales, was a foodservice sales and marketing agency.

Joyce and Bruce have two children and four grandchildren. The couple, a gregarious golden retriever and a shy indoor cat live happily in a small retirement cottage.

Learn more about the author and their books at the links below:

Gilda Morina Syverson: www.gildasyverson.com

Bruce McIntyre: www.charlesbrucemcintyre.com

Book recommendations and elevator pitches

Hannah: The Other Mothers, by Katherine Faulkner

Landis: The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

Gilda: Between the Sky and the Sea, by Lisa Williams Kline

Bruce: Child, by Judy Goldman

Elevator pitch:  Joel Burcat: Reap the Wind

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