Red Star Tattoo
My life as a girl revolutionary
published by Penguin Random House Canada
Winner of the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
Shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Creative Non-Fiction Award
Listed on the best books of 2016 by CBC and the National Post.
“She captures the environment of paranoia, violence, and futility in which she grew up in a stark, frank style that never tugs on readers’ heartstrings or asks for their pity. Instead, Larsen presents a clear-eyed look at her almost unbelievable past and crafts a character study in resilience that is eminently engaging.”
Bruce Gillespie Edna Staebler Award Judge
ICSA Meet the author interview
https://youtu.be/ofZ2eO7ihm8 I am sometimes cautious about who I use the word ‘cult’ around when I talk about my past since I think it can get interpreted to mean ‘one who believes and works towards big ideas’ and that isn’t what I mean at all. I mean the kind of control that feels intimate and taps…
My tattoo story
Red Star Tattoo, the title of my memoir comes from the time I spent as a teenage radical. Some of the founding members inside the secret revolutionary organization I’d joined had home-made red star tattoos. And even after I began to suspect that instead of becoming a revolutionary I’d become a cult member, even after…
Radio & Podcasts
CBC On the Coast Radio Interview January 11 2016 RoundHouse Radio Interview January 12 2016 CJOB 680 Radio Interview January 14 2016 Sirius FM The Charles Ader Show January 14 2016 CJAD 800 Radio Interview January 20 2016 Roundhouse Radio Interview January 20 2016 Endeavours Radio -Feb 18 2016 Trying to be Good with Emelia…
Video Interviews
Global morning Monday February 1st 2016 TVO The Agenda
BBC Interview
Asked to prove my loyalty with murder BBC News Outlook
Red Star Tattoo wins 2017 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
“As is the case with lives themselves, all memoirs are unique, but this seems especially true of Sonja Larsen’s Red Star Tattoo: My Life as a Girl Revolutionary,” said Bruce Gillespie, an award juror and professor in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Digital Media and Journalism program. “She captures the environment of paranoia, violence, and futility in which she grew up…
Continue Reading Red Star Tattoo wins 2017 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction