In Tara McGuire’s first career as a radio broadcaster, she got up very early each morning for over twenty years to keep her audience company throughout their morning commutes by telling stories, interviewing newsmakers, and interacting with guests about the issues of the day. Now, Tara continues to engage with her love of language and dialogue by sharing transformative stories in more personal and literary ways.
Tara speaks from the heart about the intimate experience of losing a child to overdose and the larger, more complex landscape of the overdose crisis and its costs to our society. Her first book Holden After & Before — Love Letter for a Son Lost to Overdose, an innovative hybrid work in memoir and fiction exploring grief, motherhood, and the overdose crisis, was published in 2022 by Arsenal Pulp Press. The book was named one of the best books of 2022 by The Walrus, one of CBC Books nonfiction to watch for, and featured in the Vancouver Sun’s “Must Read List” for 2022.
Tara has delivered powerful keynotes personalizing the impact of the crisis and the need for compassion to groups such as the BC Provincial Court Judges Annual Education Conference, Capilano University Kinesiology, Moms For All Paths to Recovery California, and Moms Stop the Harm Canada. She also presents on creative writing and the valuable opportunities for think-shift to be found in nonfiction and the personal essay. Her essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, Geist, Room, The Tyee, Montecristo, and on CBC Radio.
Tara holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing and is a graduate of The Writers Studio at Simon Fraser University. She has presented with and interviewed other writers at AWP 2023, The Vancouver Writers Fest 2021 and 2022, WORD Vancouver, The Sunshine Coast Festival of Literary Arts, the UBC School of Education, and the University of Washington’s creative writing program.
As a broadcaster, Tara has moderated events and interviewed fascinating artists and luminaries such as Isabel Allende, Sarah Ferguson, Roberta Bondar, Queen Noor, Goldie Hawn, Elizabeth Gilbert, Madeleine Albright, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Sally Field, Robert, Redford, Isabella Rosselini, Lily Tomlin, Mary Robinson, Billy Jean King, Marlee Matlin, Diane Keaton, and Margaret Trudeau.
Tara works as a voice-over actor and freelance editor. She loves to hike with her dog, read on the beach, and grow her own salad. She lives with her family under the tall trees of North Vancouver.
Selected Media:
The Current with Matt Galloway:https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/tara-mcguire-s-world-changed-when-her-son-died-from-overdose-so-did-her-perception-of-addiction-1.6607418
The Globe and Mail OpEd:
CBC On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko:
To book Tara McGuire, contact Rob Firing at speakers@transatlanticagency.com.