Vancouver, BC visual artist and author Olga Campbell published DEAR ARLO – letters to my grandson, her third book. Like her previous one, A Whisper Across Time, it is filled with art, poetry, prose, and her family’s story of the Holocaust. This one includes old family recipes.
Olga sent me a pdf of the book for review purposes. I found it culturally rich and emotionally authentic and ordered a copy of the 218-page hardback book with colored images. She is offering a special introductory price until July 31st. You can purchase a copy on her website https://olgacampbell.com/dear-arlo.
From the Foreword: Olga Campbell is a second generation Holocaust survivor. Her mother’s entire family was killed during the war and although her mother survived, that trauma stayed with her and had a profound impact on Olga. The feelings generated by this as well as by the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, at the age of 49, shaped Campbell’s emotional life for years.
“DEAR ARLO – letters to my grandson” is her response to these circumstances through art, poetry, prose – even family recipes. This is an exploration into the legacy of trauma and how it shapes one’s identity.
The book however does not only focus on trauma, it also celebrates the power of writing and art as a transformational and healing tool, and it looks at the wonder and magic of life. At the heart of the book are letters to Campbell’s grandson, Arlo. These letters serve to unify the book and transition from one section to the next. This book is a legacy, not only for the author’s grandson, but for all of us who are invited to share in this intimate journey.
One of the many poems in the book that made an impression on me is “Morning in Hyderabad” on pages 52-53. Olga wrote the poem during one of her three visits there from 2010 onwards. It is so vivid you can see and hear everything she describes as night slowly transitions to day.
MORNING IN HYDERABAD
the night is still
and then awakens
with a cocophany of muted sounds...
slowly at first,
then louder
as it explodes
into the light of day...
in the grey stillness
just before dawn
a dog barks in the distance...
far away a rooster crows
a new day
a fresh canvas to be painted on
all yesterdays forgotten
the wheels of a car rolling by
subdued motorcycle rumbles
soft sound of a horn
the quiet swishing of a sweeping broom
the dreamlike songbird...
gentle sounds
giving comfort to the fading night...
a clock is ticking
time moves
a door opens - where does it lead to?
a door closes - what is left behind?
invisible footsteps marching solemnly
birds join in
to create a harmonious tribute to the day
the songs grow in complexity
and volume
the symphony of sound gets louder
and more clear
anxious to cast off the shadow of darkness...
a voice calls out
no answer
more voices and
gentle interchange
from one heart to another
the ancient mystical call to prayers
pulls the string of hearts
the chanting of centuries
fills the dawn with inner joy
the clatter of pots and dishes
water dripping
people talking
children laughing
the smell and sizzle of breakfast
and burning wood fills the air
and so the day begins
— Olga Campbell, “DEAR ARLO – letters to my grandson”
It reminds me of Varanasi by Mary Oliver in A Thousand Mornings.
There is a wonderful section titled SPIRITUALITY on pages 162-165 where Olga describes how she learned TM and later went to Rishikesh, India in late December 1969 with her husband Chris to study with Maharishi to become TM teachers. I remember meeting them both in June 1968 on a course with Maharishi at Lake Louise. The next time I met Olga was in March 1994 after Chris had died unexpectedly. This was a few months after I had arrived in Vancouver towards the end of 1993.
One of the letters to Arlo (page 65) sets up the section about Chris’s death and Olga’s grief, explaining what she was dealing with back then. “When I wrote these poems they were an expression of my feelings around Chris’ death and some of them are sad and heavy.” She wonders if “they might be too heavy and personal for a teenager to read.” She reminds him that “these were my feelings at the time they were written, and they were written to relieve the pressure of the pain I was feeling at that time.” She reassures him saying, “I am no longer feeling that intense pain, but the words are now frozen in time and you are reading them in the present. So, what you are reading is a fixed moment in time, but is not the narrative of my life.”
She tells him that “the same thing applies to the poetry about Second Generation Holocaust Trauma.” (That section begins with a letter to Arlo on page 106. On pages 114-115 she explains, HOW A WHISPER ACROSS TIME CAME TO BE WRITTEN and what followed once it was in print.) She concludes that she has “spent years dealing with these feelings and coming to peace with them,” but assures him that “I am doing really well most of the time.”
Olga wrote about that unfortunate time in LIFE STOPS, pages 67-68, followed with poems about it, then DEATH AND DYING, pages 72-74, where she describes Chris’s full life and series of events leading up to his death. It’s followed by many pages of images of artworks and poems.
One powerful poem that stands out is I AM NOT THINKING on page 78, which painfully recalls memories of their good times together. The title was the reverse of “I’m thinking of,” one of several writing prompts I had learned from a Natalie Goldberg workshop that I shared with Olga and a few friends in a course I led at her home. Olga kept resisting saying that she wasn’t a writer; she was a visual artist. But once she started doing the exercises, something opened up in her. She couldn’t stop writing and began incorporating relevant samples into her paintings and collages. Olga had discovered her inner poet.
Meditating and creating are the two activities that fulfill Olga’s raison d’être. In the PS at the bottom of that letter to Arlo she explains: “I do art and write because it makes me feel alive and feel connected to something greater than myself.”
In LEGACY (page 125) Olga writes that both Transcendental Meditation and studying art “have been invaluable in my healing and have given me a sense of purpose, joy, and peace. Meditation has given me a solid foundation from which to feel and act, and art has allowed me to express myself fully and has led to numerous art exhibits and to the writing of three books.”
Read about the success of Olga’s previous book: A Whisper Across Time: My Family’s Story of the Holocaust Told Through Art and Poetry.
A wonderful book I had recommended to our writing group was A Walk Between Heaven and Earth: A Personal Journal on Writing and the Creative Process by Burghild Nina Holzer. I created two blog posts about it, which contain two inspiring journal entries about creative expression through writing: Burghild Nina Holzer inspires us to write and discover who we are and what we have to say and B. Nina Holzer’s final entry in her journal shows us how she is an innocent instrument for writing.
Since Olga is a visual artist and a writer, a little poem about expressing your creativity in Words and Pictures, a movie filmed in Vancouver, seems relevant. See A poem in a movie inviting you to be who you are.
NEW: Art Exhibition and Book Launch
Olga Campbell’s artwork is on display at the Zack Gallery Jan. 8-27, with an artist reception Jan. 9, 6-8 p.m. Campbell speaks as part of the JCC Jewish Book Festival on Jan. 23, 7 p.m., in the gallery.
Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery: EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
Olga Campbell: “DEAR ARLO – Letters to My Grandson.” A Memoir
January 8 – 27
Through visual art, poetry, prose, family recipe, and letters to her grandson Campbell responds to second generation Holocaust trauma and to the grief resulting from the premature death of her husband. The book however is not only about the exploration of the legacy of trauma, it also celebrates the power of art as a healing and transformational tool and looks at the awe and wonder and ebb and flow of life.
Artist Reception Jan 9, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Artist Talk In Conversation: January 23, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Interviews and Reviews for DEAR ARLO – letters to my grandson
January 19, 2025: CBC Radio: North by Northwest with Margaret Gallagher interviewed Artist and author Olga Campbell on her memoir “Dear Arlo: Letters to My Grandson”, which combines art, poetry, prose, recipes and reflections on the impact of the Holocaust and intergenerational trauma. (13:06 mins)
January 17, 2025: The Jewish Independent: Campbell’s art at Zack by Olga Livshin.
December 29, 2024: The British Columbia Review (formerly Ormsby): A tragedy of generational trauma, review by Valerie Green.
December 13, 2024: Jewish Independent: A multidimensional memoir, review by Cynthia Ramsay.
Awards for the book in 2025
Olga’s book was one of three finalists for The Cindy Roadburg Memorial Prize for Memoir/Biography in the 2025 Western Canada Jewish Book Awards. The book also received recognition from the Eric Hoffer Book Awards: Grand Prize Short List; Montaigne Medal Finalist; and Memoir, Honorable Mention.
— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.
The Uncarved Blog 