Home » On The Line

Marjorie Simmins

23 November 2016 | Email This Post Email This Post | Print This Post Print This Post

The author and journalist Marjorie Simmins discusses her new memoir, The Year of the Horse (Pottersfield, 2016), an inspiring book about healing and adventure, with Joseph Planta.


The Year of the Horse by Marjorie Simmins (Pottersfield, 2016).

Click to buy this book from Chapters.ca: The Year of the Horse


Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The special relationship that people have with horses is lyrically and evocatively told in the latest from the writer and journalist Marjorie Simmins. In The Year of the Horse she recounts the setbacks after a horseback riding accident in 2011. She finds herself unable to walk and after two years of delicate movement, she decides to ride again. Getting back on the horse is a bold decision, and in her forty years plus of riding, she also decides to compete in a horse show. We see in the book the horse community in Vancouver’s Southlands, where she grew up and rode. The horse community in her home of Nova Scotia, where she is welcomed, illustrates the special bond and faith in each other, horse people with one another, and especially people and horses. The book is about healing, and how much healing Marjorie derived from the people around her and the horses. I’ll get Ms. Simmins to tell us about this book, and what she thinks we might learn from horses. Marjorie Simmins is an award-winning journalist and writer. She divides her time between Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Her previous memoir was called Coastal Lives, and she teaches memoir writing across the country. Visit www.marjoriesimmins.ca. The new book is published by Pottersfield. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in person this morning, Marjorie Simmins; Ms. Simmins, good morning.