Sixties Girls a girlhood romp by late-blooming P.E.I. playwright

Sixties Girls is a new, semi-autobiographicalbook written in the form of a play about a close friendship between two P.E.I. girls growing up in the1960s.

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Katherine MacCallum was recently introduced to the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) writing group, and began with this story.

Something that I've always said I wanted to do is write a book. Katherine MacCallum

"I never thought of myself as an author," MacCallum told CBC Radio: Mainstreet P.E.I.'s Angela Walker. "I went to a few meetings and kind of got drawn in."

The story is the coming-of-age tale of MacCallum and her then-best friend, who now lives in Ontario.

When a friend helped her do a public reading of part of the story, "it went over very well," and she decided to finish and publish the comedy.

'Happy, foolish times'

Although she admits she doesn't have a strong theatre background, she gave it a shot and "hoped to share some fun times there was a lot of happy times, foolish times."

She recalls teenage years spent with her friend eschewing the nascent drug scene, opting instead to attend dances and sleepovers "it was good, innocent fun."

"It was a little bit surreal," to hold the recently-published book, she said. "Something that I've always said I wanted to do is write a book... so I finally put my money where my mouth was!"

The girls' teenage photos, along with an image of a record player, are on the book's cover. "She was pretty happy to see the finished product too!" MacCallum said.

MacCallum plans to give a public reading Saturday March 11 at the Confederation Centre Public Library. She'd like to see the play on stage some day, she added.

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