Sadie Beyl, founder of From Mourning to Light, hosted a Grief Summit in October 2022, and she interviewed me as one of her guest experts. We discussed my book Voices of the Grieving Heart, but we also spoke about something that’s rarely discussed: After our life partner has died, and after all of the time and effort it takes to grieve and keep living, how do we know when it’s the right time to consider a new relationship?
Come to my workshop with Reimagine on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 from 5:00-6:30 PM Pacific time! Experience creating poetry that gives words to images and experiences that can be so hard to express. Reading and writing poetry has power to heal and transform our grief. This workshop is a place for writers and non-writers to experience creating and sharing the poetry of our loss in a safe space. In this interactive workshop, we’ll use readings and simple exercises to explore your own grief journey through poetry. We’ll create poems and share them with other participants in a safe, non-judgmental space (optional). No writing experience or poetic talent required.
Register here! You can pay $15 to support me, or just come for free, your choice!
On August 16 at 10 AM Pacific, I’ll be presenting Voices of the Grieving Heart for the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation’s Author Series! The event is free and you can register here on Eventbrite! I hope you’ll join me there!
My interview with Kate Burns of The Death Dialogues Project was released today on Spotify! You can listen here.
On September 12, I was honored to present a talk about Voices of the Grieving Heart at a monthly Author’s Corner event for the National Association for Poetry Therapy. The audience was primarily mental health professionals who use poetry to support their clients. We talked about grief, what people who are grieving need, and how reading—and writing—poems about our grief can be a mirror in which we can see ourselves with more understanding and compassion.
I read eight poems from Voices, and I led a writing exercise that participants found helpful. This edited video is about 38 minutes long.
On August 23 I spoke to one of the Rotary Clubs of San Luis Obispo, CA about grief, how we can support ourselves and others who are grieving, and of course Voices of the Grieving Heart. You can watch a video of my talk here.
Six contributors to Voices of the Grieving Heart read their poems at this moving and intimate event. We were joined by my friend John Fox as well as special guest Kris Kington-Barker, end-of-life doula and former Executive Director at Hospice of San Luis Obispo County.
You can watch a recording of the event here:
On Zoom, of course. On May 23, five British contributors to Voices of the Grieving Heart read their poems, including some that are not in the book. Thank you so much to Rosemary Palmeira, Rose Drew, Maggie Jackson, Gill Garrett, and Yvonne Ugarte! I read a few poems as well, including one from a sixth British contributor who couldn’t make it, Lucy Trevitt.
We were joined by John Fox, founder and director of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. You can watch the recording here:
I was interviewed LIVE on Good Grief with Cheryl Jones, Wednesday May 5 at 2PM. We talked about losing someone we love, Voices of the Grieving Heart and reading and writing poems as a tool of healing. Listen here: https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/131063/voices-of-the-grieving-heart
We have a received a LOT of great feedback about the book launch. One attendee, someone who doesn’t normally write poetry, was even inspired to write her own poem about grieving the death of her husband.
If you missed the live event, you can watch it right here.