Interview with Greg Archer

Tell us about your latest book.
In Grace Revealed: A Memoir, I recount my experiences getting a “sign” to look more deeply into my Polish family’s past. As a result, I decide to toss Hollywood reporting aside and examine my clan’s remarkable if not heroic odyssey of the 1940s. The misadventure leads me to expose one of the most under-reported events of the 20th Century: Joseph Stalin’s mass deportations of Polish citizens. Nearly 2 million Poles were deported in the 1940s, sent into slave labor in the Siberian Gulags and later, left to wander throughout Southern Russia and the Middle East, their lives hanging loosely on a thin cosmic thread. Some of those refugees, like my own family, wound up in Eastern Africa. I felt strongly to get the book done after listening to many recorded interviews with my family. And with 2015 marking the 75th anniversary of the deportations, the opportunity to bring this remarkable yet under-reported story about the Poles-—in a sense, the forgotten Holocaust—to light has never been so timely. However, the book isn’t all “heavy.” One review told me it’s “an Eat Pray Love by way of a Polish Alex Haley.”  I’ll take that.

What formats is the book available in?
The book is available on all platforms. From physical copy to e-book / Nook/ Kindle, etc.

Who are your favourite authors?
David, Sedaris, Carrie Fisher, Jonathan Franzen, Molly Ivins, Caroline Myss, Deepak Chopra, Elizabeth Gilbert, Dan Brown

What advice do you have for other writers?
Get out of your own way … as much as you can.

What's your favourite quote about writing/for writers?
It’s not about “you” yet … it’s about you. Write from what you know.

What's the best thing about being a writer?
Being able to create and allow characters and stories to pour out of you. There’s a “high” in that process.

Where can people find out more about you and your writing?
@Greg_Archer

Who is you favorite character in your book and why?
My Polish grandmother, Jadwiga. Her strength, her resilience, her ability to keep it all together for the sake of her children… it’s quite remarkable. I am in awe. Some times it takes me months to get over a mood swing. I have no idea how this woman managed to keep her family together.

Why do you think readers are going to enjoy your book?
I think journeys of self-discovery are appealing. Like Eat Pray Love, this book takes the reader along for a ride and in the process, chronicles the author’s unraveling (me) as he exposes a part of history of which not many people were aware. Plus: there’s the remarkable family survival story, too.

Where can a reader purchase your book? 





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3 Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Glad you liked it Rita. Thanks for dropping by.

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    2. Glad you liked it Rita. Thanks for dropping by.

      Delete

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