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Hail the Grandparent
THE LIFE & LEARNING OF RALPH MILTON
» Thursday 21 February 2008 | 4:30 pm
» BeanScene North, 1289 Ellis Street
An informal afternoon hour showcasing the people and ideas featured in Okanagan Q. Join us as best-selling Canadian author Ralph Milton talks about his work, and his latest reflections on life as a grandparent following the recent release of his book The Spirituality of Grandparenting.
» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna
Best-selling Author Shares His Enthusiasm for Life and Learning
Life never hands out its secrets all at once - it doles them out slowly so that we have to guess all the way. Perhaps that explains in part how a Mennonite boy with a voice born for radio landed in broadcasting only to turn his talents over to talk about spirituality to become a best-selling Canadian author.
On Thursday, February 21, at 4:30 p.m. at Bean Scene North in Kelowna, the Okanagan Institute presents: Hail the Grandparent - The Life and Learning of Ralph Milton.
Milton will be talking about his work, and his latest reflections on life as a grandparent following the recent release of his book The Spirituality of Grandparenting.
"Age is a part of life and it's the whole spectrum of things - it's part of the whole journey. The only way to make this a beautiful time is to accept it and to look at the blessings - and that comes in our relationships with other people," Milton says.
Milton didn't start out in the religious field. In fact, his intention was to conquer broadcasting. He grew up in southern Manitoba where his family was "kicked out" of the local Mennonite church for being far too liberal. Milton took to broadcasting and soon was running one of the first open-line radio shows in Canada. As a freelance commentator on the CBC, he managed to create something of a national ruckus when he described the Grey Cup as Canada's greatest religious festival.
His work eventually took him to a job as program director for a radio station in Trail, B.C. There he met his wife Beverley, a school teacher who also taught Sunday school.
But Milton still wasn't ready to give up what he considered at the time to be his life-long career - journalism. He travelled to the Philippines where he spent five years training broadcasters from Asia, and it was through that experience that he wrote his first book - a textbook called Radio Programming for Developing Nations. Published in London, the book became an international bible of sorts, and went into 27 printings.
That book led Milton to New York City where he served as a broadcasting consultant to media operations in Africa, followed by ten years as a TV producer and talk show host in Calgary, on a program syndicated on five Alberta stations.
That high pressure posting led to severe burnout so the Miltons moved to Winfield where his wife had accepted a post with the United Church. And Milton had a new book on his hands - this time a spiritual one - The Gift of Story. When a United Church bookstore requested 3,000 copies Milton did the only sensible thing - he launched his own publishing house along with Jim Taylor, who was then a writer for the United Church Observer. Wood Lake Books now boasts worldwide sales, with partners in both the USA and Australia.
Today Milton has more than 15 books to his credit, including his light-hearted Angels in Red Suspenders: An Unconventional and Humourous Approach to Spirituality, which became a Canadian best-seller when it was released in 1999. "Spirituality is like sex," Milton says in that book. "If you're not enjoying it, you're not doing it right." He also holds honorary doctorates from St. Stephen's College in Edmonton and The Vancouver School of Theology.
Hail the Grandparent - The Life and Learning of Ralph Milton is a free event, and takes place at BeanScene North. It's presented by the Okanagan Institute in association with Wheat King Publishing.
Express is sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, and supports the work of Project Literacy Kelowna.
Okanagan Insitute at BeanScene North A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture and community. Produced by the Okanagan institute in association with Wheat King Publishing magazines: Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home.
Expresss is a cultural tonic that refreshes the mind. Join us at BeanScene North after work on Thursdays for a free hour of stimulation that will get your synapses tingling with new ideas and fresh images. Designed for inquiring minds looking for, among other things, the wild blue yonder.
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