[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/catherinedn1.jpg” caption=”Catherine Wiebe turned her fourth year thesis into a novel on memory, aging and food. “]How would you like to be part of something that involves good food, good writing, and cool people?

That's what McMaster alumna Catherine M. A. Wiebe asked her thesis supervisor, Kathleen Garay, when she pitched her a novel idea – literally.

Fast-forward nearly four years and Wiebe, now 24, has successfully published her first book, Second Rising, which began as her undergraduate thesis.

“I'm not sure that I had specific dreams of what it would be like, but if I did, it definitely fulfills them,” said Wiebe of her completed novel. “It feels simply marvelous…both the accomplishment of writing and the feeling that I've written something of real value.”

The novel, which explores the relationship between a young woman and her grandmother, focuses on memory, aging and food. Wiebe began the fictional memoir during her final year in McMaster's Arts & Science Program as a part of her undergraduate thesis. With the help of her two thesis supervisors, Kathleen Garay, instructor for the Art & Science Program and Nina Kolesnikoff, professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages, the young author turned her ideas into an impressive final product.

Although much reworking occurred after her graduation, Wiebe believes her time at McMaster and her dedicated advisors were critical to the novel's completion.

“Doctors Kolesnikoff and Garay were huge inspirations,” said Wiebe, remembering the initial stages of writing. “It was just incredible to have such amazing women so confident that I could accomplish something of this magnitude.”

Second Rising has been welcomed with much applause by critics and readers alike. Though Wiebe is currently taking a break from novels to write shorter pieces, she finds it especially difficult to escape one of her novel's central themes: food.

“I think my next book idea is just simmering in my mental crock-pot.”

For interviews and information on Second Rising, visit Blue Butterfly Book Publishing .