Prolific Regina author writes her first novel, at age 95

Having penned 27 non-fiction books, 95-year-old Kay Parley has done a lot of writing in her life.

But she had never written a novel. She can now add that to her list of accomplishments as an author.

At the Bentley Hillsdale retirement home in Regina on Tuesday, she launched The Grass People, a fantasy published by Radiant Press about a tiny civilization that lives in the grass.

The synopsis of the book explains the people live “under the constant threat from wild beasts, wheelers, the mower, and four-legged shadows.”

“Community is what it’s really about, people cooperating with each other. They have to. They’re so small, they’re vulnerable and got to be looking after each other. That I think is the secret of the story, really,” Parley said.

Parley, who writes daily and still contributes a weekly newspaper column, said she came up with the idea while living on a Saskatchewan in the 1920s.

“I’d be out there listening to all the sounds of nature. It’s easy to imagine little people among them,” she said, adding she also once received a book containing a poem called, “Little Folks in the Grass” by Annette Wynne.

The bubbly senior said while she enjoyed writing non-fiction, fiction writing allowed her to flex her imagination and have more fun.

Her advice for aspiring writers: write about what you know.

“I lived on the farm. I played in those bluffs. I knew those little grass people,” she said.