Stories from the past made for today. WWW.JOANIESCHIRM.COM FOR BOOK TRAILERS AND MORE
Joanie@JoanieSchirm.com
As a Global eBook Award Winner for Best Biography, author Joanie Holzer Schirm's non-fiction books are based on revelations from the Holzer Collection: a WWII letter collection her Czech-American father secretly hid away after the war. The three-book series stands alone in different voices telling stories unique to each book. The stories bring the reader into vivid personalized history with echoes today of forced displacement, rebuilt lives after the loss of homeland, inspiration, and a dedication to preserving democracy and human rights. . www.joanieschirm.com
*ADVENTURERS AGAINST THEIR WILL: Extraordinary WWII Stories of Survival, Escape, and Connection - Unlike Any Others
*MY DEAR BOY: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation - Potomac Books, ORDER BOOK ON AMAZON OR UNL/POTOMAC BOOKS (code 6AS19); sign up for book notices at www.joanieschirm.com Foreword Indies Book of the Year Finalist (Biography)
*STEADFAST INK: THE JOURNEY WITHIN
After the death of Joanie Holzer Schirm’s parents in 2000, she found hundreds of letters, held together by rusted paperclips and stamped with censor marks, sent from Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, China, and South and North America, along with journals, vintage film, taped interviews, and photographs. In working through these various materials documenting the life of her father, Oswald “Valdik” Holzer, she learned of her family history through his remarkable experiences of exile and loss, resilience, and hope.
In a posthumous memoir, My Dear Boy, Schirm elegantly re-creates her father’s youthful voice as he comes of age as a Jew in interwar Prague, escapes from a Nazi-held army unit, and practices medicine in China’s war-ravaged interior, and settles in the United States to start a family. Introducing us to a diverse cast of characters ranging from the humorous to the menacing, Holzer’s life story is an inspirational account of survival during wartime, a cinematic epic spanning multiple continents, and ultimately a tale with a twist—a book that will move readers for generations to come.
“This stunning tribute to Schirm’s father’s legacy of service reminds us that our examination of the human heart as individual characters should lead us to protect the dignity of all others, no matter the friction of our differences.”—Buddy Dyer, mayor of Orlando
“Out of the emotional landscape of her father’s experiences comes an extraordinary story of hope, passionately written . . . . At the heart of this book is the message in one letter that changed the way Dr. Holzer lived his life. This book is a labor of love for a daughter who tells a compelling story of a father who lived an exemplary life.”—Bill Nelson, U.S. senator, Florida
Schirm's debut book was named to the Florida Department of Education Recommended Just-Read list for Grades 9-12. Adventurers is recommended reading by the National World War II Museum, the International Tracing Service (ITS), and more. Free Lesson Plans in English and German are available at www.joanieschirm.com or by request joanie@joanieschirm.com
First book: Adventurers Against Their Will (published in English and Czech). Amazon www.joanieschirm.com Global Ebook Award for Best Biography
Joanie Holzer Schirm is internationally known as an award-winning author and Orlando's chairman for FIFA's World Cup 1994. Experienced with global media, Joanie is a sought-after public speaker; a weekly contributor for the Central Florida 100 opinion column in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, and has written over 200 articles for professional trade journals. Schirm has been interviewed for PBS and NPR major market national broadcasts through Bolder Media Group's Growing Bolder. Numerous awards include the Global Ebook Award for Best Biography; Foreword Indies Book Finalist for Book of the Year Biography; Walt Disney Co. Dreamers and Doer, Junior Achievement Spirit of Achievement, Orlando Businesswoman of the Year, Florida Governor's Leadership Award, and is a member of the Central Florida Sports Commission Hall of Fame. After raising two children, she lives with her husband overlooking a bird-filled Orlando lake, writing books, serving as a force for good.
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