In memory of Valerie Parv
We farewell and thank a favourite presenter from the ACT Writers creative workshop program
With the news earlier this week that a talent of the romance writing genre, and a much-admired Canberra story-teller, Valerie Parv, had died suddenly, it was moving to see the outpouring of tributes, gratitude and respect for her and her work.
Valerie was a long-time member of ACT Writers. She has been a stalwart of our series of creative workshops; delivering romance and general fiction writing full-day sessions as a fixture of each year’s program. These workshops have always been popular, and Valerie has time and again demonstrated that any preconceptions about the romance writing genre as ‘lesser fiction’ are ill-founded. You can hear her talk about this in a very recent episode of Irma Gold and Craig Cormick’s writing podcast, Secrets from the Green Room.
Over the years, many of our workshop participants benefitted from Valerie’s expertise, openness and generosity sharing writing and industry-related insights. It was always a lovely thing to read the feedback from these emerging writers, thanking Valerie for “recharging my enthusiasm”, “reminding me that all is do-able” and “providing me with such food for thought on writing.”
Valerie presenting an ACT Writers workshop in the cosy space at Harry Hartog ANU, 2019.
Valerie, who was almost 70, was a prolific romance writer, and has sold an astonishing more-than-34 million books in her career. Her memoir, 34 million books: Australia's Queen of Romance Shares Her Life and Writing Tips was published last year.
On behalf of all of us at ACT Writers, and all those who came into contact with Valerie through our workshops, we’d like to thank her for her wisdom, her generous enthusiasm for quality writing, and her commitment and contribution to the world of writing not just in Canberra, but internationally. She will be greatly missed, but the pages of her books will continue to be turned with great joy.
Our sincere thanks also to Valerie’s long-time friend and manager, Linda Tate, for working closely with us to engage Valerie and her talents in new ways over the years.