S2E1 Description: Ola Szczecinska was born in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to Canada with her family in 1984. She earned an MA in history from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She’s been published in Narrative Magazine, Geist, SFU’s Emerge, and her short story “Pulled Pork, Brisket, Polish Ham” has been included “BETTER NEXT YEAR: An Anthology of Christmas Epiphanies,” which recently hit Amazon’s Best Sellers List for Canadian Literature. During the interview Ola gives us reading and we talk about her story of what it means to fall vs living free. She talks about the time she was homeless and lived in her car over Christmas, when all her possessions from her car were stolen. How during that time she survived a major car accident, and how a chance encounter with a police officer gave her a new perspectives on life. Ola’s story is about what happens when our lives get turned upside down and what it means to get up, to rise again.
WELCOME TO SEASON 2 OF THE AUTHENTIC YOU PODCAST!
Hi Everyone, welcome to Season 2 of the Authentic You Podcast. I’m so excited to be back at this and I can’t believe its been two years since we closed out season one. The strange thing is, while I was busy with life, busy writing, and learning how to become a better writer, the podcast has kept growing, it’s now been listen to in 28 countries and its keep hitting charts around the world.
Podcast Rankings
It’s ranked 8th in Singapore, 26th in Russia, 30th in Canada, 77th in the United Kingdom, 90th in Italy, 68th in Norway, 243 in the USA, and most recently it just hit the charts in Sweden. All of this is according to Chartable Digest. So I want to thank all of you who have been listening to season 1 and sharing your favourite episodes with friends.
Whats in Season 2?
In season 2 we’ve got interviews with a former journalist and musician from Afghanistan where he shares his harrowing escape from the Taliban. We have an interview with a former UK boyband member of Kreme, who is also a former roommate of mine, and someone I managed to reconnect with after my first public reading of the new anthology I’m in called Better Next Year, An Anthology of Christmas Epiphanies edited by JJ Lee.
BETTER NEXT YEAR
This is a collection of 12 real life Christmas stories that dispel the myth behind Christmas that are hound dog sad, heart breaking, and at times hilariously funny. The authors in this collection put it all out to bare. And the stories are resonating with readers across our country. Yes. Because The other big news for me personally is that this year I got published! As of Nov 1 2023 I had a short story of mine get accepted for publication with a real life publisher and editor and with a bunch of award winning authors plenty of incredible emerging writers I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from soon.
AMAZON BEST SELLERS LIST
The even crazier news in all this - our book, Better next year, is now on the amazon best sellers list for Canadian Literature in Canada. We broke top 10 on best sellers list and came in 2nd place in hot new releases. This truly is mind blowing for me.
Hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with friends! Listen now:
