After that, Emily took it upon herself to continue Judith’s book. They recorded 13 cassette tapes before her grandma passed away at 73. To help her, Pohl-Weary interviewed her grandma about the story and recorded their conversations.
At the time, her grandma, Judith Merril, also an author, was working on a new book and experiencing writer’s block.
Pohl-Weary wrote and published her first book - her grandma’s biography - in her early twenties. That’s when I realized I wanted to make my own stories and learn how to do that well enough to engage the reader,” she explained. “But when I got home, I didn’t want to write anymore because I’d been writing all day. In her early twenties, she completed a degree in translation from Glendon College at York University and worked for a human rights organization translating press releases. “It was a process of elimination after I tried to do a lot of other things,” said Pohl-Weary in an interview with The Varsity. Content warning: This article briefly mentions violent crime.Įmily Pohl-Weary, an eight-time published author and a two-time literary award winner, came a long way before deciding on a writer’s career.
