Please note that an author page is linked to each contributor and requires a password to enter. Passwords are provided with purchase of print or downloadable versions of Grief Becomes You.
Allison Downey is a storyteller, singer-songwriter, educator, and speaker who believes in the power of story and song to inspire, foster connections, and teach us about ourselves. With an MFA in theatre, Allison has performed at such prestigious venues as The National Storytelling Festival, The Moth Mainstage and on Michigan Radio (NPR) as co-producer, host, and creator of the award-winning storytelling program, “The Living Room.” Her musical CDs have garnered awards and radio play in five countries. A professor at Western Michigan University, Downey offers keynotes, workshops, retreats, courses, and coaching in creativity, personal narrative, and organizational storytelling. Allison is currently writing a book about her recent tangle with cancer. She’s happy to be here. For more information about Allison, find her at www.allisondowney.com.
Amy Tingle has been a visual artist and a writer since she can remember. In 2010, sensing a need in her community to make creative expression more accessible, Amy founded BraveGirlsArt, a series of art and self-empowerment workshops and camps for girls and women. Since then she published a book of her writing and collages, Strange Diary, or How to Make a Collage, and has exhibited her work in galleries throughout the United States. She also co-founded a small business with her wife, Maya Stein. You can find Amy on Instagram as @tingle and on her website amytingle.com.
Anjika Grinager is a graphic designer and amateur philosopher who recently relocated to Portland, Oregon after raising two amazing boys in Santa Cruz, California. When she’s not creating intuitive designs for her clients, she self-medicates with writing.
Anne Claire Bonneau French. 36. Born in Paris. Ex-copywriter. Now living in Bordeaux. In love with the English language. She adds, “I write because I have always felt called to write. To testify to the beauty and pain of being human. Now I’m trying to share my words with the world, hoping they can resonate with others’ experience.”
Annette Januzzi Wick is a writer, blogger and author of I’ll Have Some of Yours: What my mother taught me about dementia, cookies, music, the outside and how to find the best care home. Her writings have appeared in the Alzheimer’s Association Cornerstone, Grief Becomes You, Erma Bombeck Humor Blog and Movers and Makers, and have received awards from Writer’s Digest, National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and USA Book News. Annette and her husband make their home in a historic neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit annettejwick.com to learn more.
Brandie Sellers counsels cancer survivors and others who have experienced medical trauma, and adults experiencing life transitions. Brandie became a counselor after she completed treatment for breast cancer so she could support other people overcome their struggles. In addition to counseling, Brandie has been teaching yoga and Ayurveda since 2005, and is a Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level with Yoga Alliance. She has written for cancerwise.org, and speaks to cancer survivors, counselors, and other professionals about cancer survivorship. Brandie is crazy about her three children and living an artful life with big adventures.
Candida Maurer Ph.D., is a mind-body-spirit psychologist who, along with her husband, Michael Santangelo, Ph.D., created Iowa’s first integrative medicine center in 1996. It is still going strong today (eastwindhealing.com). When Michael became mortally ill, they encountered the biggest challenge to their spiritual devotion and growth that either had ever known. Held deeply by spirit, her writing in this collection is the story of their last moments and hours together. Candida is currently finishing the book about their journey through dying and death, Enlightenment on the Path of Grief, an expansion of her blog by the same name (enlightenmentonthepathofgrief.com).
Caren Stewart is an artist, writer, and educator who has worked in a helping profession for 15 years, most recently as a counselor focusing on clients experiencing domestic and sexual violence. Caren works one-on-one with clients, groups, and also workshops around the psychology of trauma, characteristics of domestic violence relationships, and building resilience and emotional regulation in survivors. She completed a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in sculpture and a Master’s in Education and uses art and writing processes in her work with clients. Caren is also a certified Soul Collage® Facilitator.
Carol Mikoda teaches writing and new teachers in upstate New York. Some of her work has appeared in Children, Churches, & Daddies, and Acta Victoriana. She lives in the country where she walks in the woods or lies down on the grass to study the sky and photograph clouds or treetops. She also sings and plays bass guitar as often as possible. Although she enjoys travel, her cat, Zen Li Shou, would rather she stayed home. She blogs at starwatchersguide.blogspot.com.
Carolyn Sargent was born and raised in Perrysburg, Ohio, where she married and raised a family after completing a BA in French at Otterbein College (now University); a junior year abroad in Strasbourg France created a deeper love of all things French, as well as friendships that endure. Carolyn now lives just north of Orlando, Florida. In 2007, she completed a three-year formation experience (Audire) culminating in certification as a Spiritual Director, a profession she continues to practice. For as long as she can remember, writing in one form or another has been another thread she holds onto.
Celeste Tibbets is a retired librarian who lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
Chris Gutjahr Photography is Chris’s way of expressing a moment without words. She adds, “Some people say, ‘I want to remember her as she was, not as she is now. I wanted to remember my love, Cathy, in all her aspects, including death. On her last day, Cathy’s friends gathered around her bed. One at a time, each friend came up to her to say goodbye. Even though Cathy had little strength, she embraced each with a moment of deep regard.”
Christina Tran makes tender, autobiographical comics and essays that pull us toward a more compassionate world. She has been making webcomics since 2014 and self-publishing zines since 2015. Her artmaking is influenced by her backgrounds in design, teaching, and community work. Find her online at sodelightful.com or in-person at the renegade community art space called Mt. Caz in Corvallis, Oregon.
Cynthia Lee discovered herself as an artist later in life while raising nine children. Her education was claimed from the in-between moments. She is self-taught at the school of chasing curiosity, exploration, and deep belief in the power of story. With a vibrant visual journaling practice that informs her voice, she has been creating mixed media artwork since 2011. Whether writing, painting, or creating side by side with others, her work is about inspiring women to trust their own inner wisdom. She carries with her the grief of the death of her 20-year-old son in 2017.
Dana Schwartz lives in New Hope, Pennsylvania. She has published short stories and essays in literary journals and anthologies, and was a contest finalist in Crab Orchard Review, New South, and Juncture. In 2015 and 2017, her essays about motherhood were included in Lehigh Valley’s “Listen to Your Mother” performances. You can find more of her writing on her blog, danaschwartzwrites.com. She is currently working on a memoir about motherhood and grief.
David Rosenheim is an executive coach and professional songwriter who lives in a solar-powered house by the sea with his wife and two sons. The Weather Band, Hugh, and Winchester Revival have released his songs on seven critically lauded records, and his poetry has been published in journals including Frigg and Common Ground. He is a graduate of Oxford University and host of the Sustainability Leaders podcast. davidrosenheim.com.
Diane M. Laboda is a former teacher-librarian and retired Washtenaw Community College executive assistant. She enjoys exploring life’s mysteries and sharing with others in her writing and artwork. She has published poetry, short stories, and articles in Huron Winds, Watermark, Lighter Breezes, Project Grow’s Community Gardener, Cra.sh online literary magazine, Third Wednesday literary journal, Zoetic Press WLYA 2018, WCC’s E-Link, Washtenaw Voice, OP/T Connection, Gallery One Colors & Voices, issues 1-18 of The Huron River Review, Blood Orange, The Big Window Review and Poetry Club anthologies. She has published two chapbooks, Facing the Mirror and This Poet’s Journey, and is working on her first book-length collection of poetry on caregiving and grief.
Elisabeth Reed Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Elisabeth Marshall Reed holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University. Currently, she teaches viola da gamba and Baroque cello at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of California, Berkeley, and she has given master classes at the Juilliard School, the Shanghai Conservatory, and the Royal Academy of Music. She can be heard on the Virgin Classics and Naxos recording labels and on the “Voices of Music” YouTube channel. A Guild-certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, she specializes in working with performers. elisabethreed.com, voicesofmusic.org/videos.html.
elizabeth claverie has dabbled in wordsmithing since she was very young. Since retiring two years ago from teaching middle school, she has built a small artisan cheese following and makes cheese. This fall, she will be on the Camino de Santiago for the fourth time and hoping to write a book when she is finished (and hoping to finish).
Ellen McCarthy began writing poetry after she retired as journalist and PR professional. To Ellen, poetry feels like commiseration, like talking to a friend. Her husband died in 2015 after an 18-month battle with kidney failure. That same year, her brother died and her sister was diagnosed with cancer. “I am not the same person I was in 2015,” she says. “My heart now moves in and out of grief and gratitude. I take nothing for granted.” Her work can be found at poemsfromthebottomofmyanxiousheart.blogspot.com.
Evelyn Donato is a published author, keynote speaker, and development consultant who works with non-profit organizations to help them increase their capital campaigns and program goals. She also works as an advocate for those living with invisible illness and chronic pain. Her blog “You Don’t Look Sick” focuses on bringing a more informed awareness of the various challenges and misconceptions that those living with chronic illness and pain experience in our current culture. Evelyn blogs at youdontlooksickblog.com.
Gloria Lodato Wilson lives in New York City and is a Professor at Hofstra University. Her academic writing includes numerous journal articles and book chapters on addressing the learning needs of students with disabilities. She is the lead author of Teaching in Tandem: Effective Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom. Gloria’s non-academic writing focus is primarily first-person short works and she is the author of Confessions of a Praying Atheist, a collection of vignettes which more or less follow her path through love, grief, and life. Other works appear in various anthologies. Gloria enjoys exploring New York City, traveling, and hiking.
Jennifer Glossop was born in England, raised in Chicago, and has lived the majority of her life in Toronto. Most of her career has been spent as a book editor with a particular interest in fiction. In the 1990s, she also started writing children’s books, most recently The Kids Book of World Religions. Semi-retirement has brought time for other pursuits, including painting and travel. Grief came into Jennifer’s life in a decade of losses: first of her father, then her only uncle, her mother, her husband, and her first grandchild at age 12. “My Old Purse” is about two of those losses.
Jennifer New leads somatic inquiries, writes from the heart, works to keep up a house for two kids and two furry creatures, and dreams of the golden light of northern California.
Jess Larsen Brennan is the founder of Held Massage Therapy, a restorative practice that specializes in nurturing bodywork for challenging times in life. Held is influenced by Jess’ 15-year career as a birth and death doula, childbirth educator and midwives’ assistant. In addition to being a licensed massage therapist, Jess also has a professional background in public relations and communications, with a particular focus on supporting small women-owned businesses. She lives and works with her family in Montclair, New Jersey.
Kelly Albers is a full-time mother to two beautiful children. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and is also a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Kelly is a freelance writer and a published contributor in Still Standing Magazine. She is currently working on a submission for, The Resilience of Being anthology. Outside of creative writing work, she enjoys spending time with her family, photography and walks in the woods.
Laura Hoffman lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband, her teenage daughter, her 97-year-old mother and her 2-year-old Corgi. She is a professional sign language interpreter and plays in a few rock bands around town.
Lisa Prantl A life in words. From childhood rhymes to free verse, block letters to keyboards, writing has been an ebb and flow in how to understand and live life for Lisa. When her son died, grief became a way of life, and writing about it opened a new understanding of death and the internal rhythm of grieving. That loss also led Lisa to train as a death midwife, with particular interest in home funerals and green burial. Lisa is a writer/ facilitator at Women Writing for (a) Change in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a member of the Cincinnati End of Life Collaborative.
Marie Louise St. Onge Marie Louise’s writing has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines across the country including Yankee Magazine, Clackamas Literary Review, Permafrost, Café Review, and Balancing Act 2. She is the Executive Editor of Ad Hoc Monadnock—A Literary Anthology, a former editor for The Worcester Review, and a contributor to French Class: French Canadian-American Writings on Identity, Culture and Place. Marie Louise has read her poetry at universities, art and community centers, and bookstores throughout New England. She lives in Maine.
Meg Weber writes memoir, crafting true stories from her days. Meg’s writing gives voice to how her life unfolds outside the boundaries prescribed for her. She writes about transgression, about edges, and about finding her way back into connection with her family through tragedy. Meg’s writing is featured in The Quotable, MUTHA Magazine, Manifest-Station, Rabble Lit, and HipMama, and in anthologies by Seal Press, Sincyr Publishing, and forthcoming from Pact Press.
Michelle Harris is a Renaissance woman who writes and studies and paints and fixes leaking faucets and mows the yard and cooks and drives her kids to practice, all while listening to books and podcasts about living with intention and making the most of this one amazing life. You will likely find her organizing a closet or taking a long walk in the woods. Don’t you worry. She’s is already dancing again.
Lynn Bechtel is a writer, editor, gardener, reader, occasional knitter, and novice meditator. She grew up in Ohio but has lived in New England for most of her adult life. She writes essays and short stories. Her website is writeonharlow.com.
Margaret Todd Maitland explores the relationship between art and grief in her current project, The Girl in the Fresco, a memoir set in Italy. She has received numerous fellowships for her creative nonfiction as well as a listing in Best American Essays (Notable Essays). As editor of Ruminator Review, she published interviews, essays, and book reviews by writers including Adrienne Rich, W. S. Merwin, Neil Gaiman, and Yoko Ono. She currently teaches creative nonfiction at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.
Naida Hyde Grown on Canadian soil, Naida became a nurse, psychiatric nursing clinical specialist, and psychologist, her specialty women’s empowerment and healing incest wounds through feminist psychotherapy. She and life partner Helga Jacobson developed and ran a women’s healing center, RavenSpirit, focusing on shamanic healing for 15 years. Naida worked and volunteered six times in Lesotho with girls, women and grandmothers, beginning age 65. She has chosen daughters from Lesotho and a granddaughter, each the joy of her life. Audre Lorde and Raven are mentors. Naida’s life imperatives are: Speak your truth. Never disappoint yourself. Make expansive choices. Give back. Love is all.
Nancy Gerber is a writer and psychoanalyst. Her books include The Dancing Clock: Reflections on Family, Love, and Loss (Shanti Arts Publishing, 2019); A Way Out of Nowhere: Stories (Big Table Publishing, 2018); and Losing a Life: A Daughter’s Memoir of Caregiving (Hamilton Books, 2005). She received a Ph.D. in English from Rutgers University.
Pamela Graesser is a lifelong resident of New Hampshire and a practicing psychotherapist for the last 34 years. She has a spouse, two cats and an enormously wonderful group of female friends. She started writing when her mother was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It became a way for her to process the disease and along the way, it became the therapy she needed to heal their relationship.
Patricia McKernon Runkle has worked as a writer and editor; she has also written songs and collaborative choral pieces. Her poems have been published in Journal of New Jersey Poets, Paterson Literary Review, and other literary magazines, including haiku journals. Her memoir, Grief’s Compass: Walking the Wilderness with Emily Dickinson, was published by Apprentice House Press (2017); it received a 2017 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medal for lyrical prose and was short-listed for the Rubery Book Award. She lives with her husband in the New York area, and they cherish their two grown children. She can be contacted at griefscompass.com.
Rachel Weishaar is a mother of three, a writer, and amateur photographer from the St. Louis area. She loves to document beauty, even in decay. Photography allows her to record proof of peace, surrender, and solitude in a busy world.
Randi Stein is a mother and grandmother, visual artist, and dance/ movement therapist. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Now that she is 71, she is expecting to witness more friends departing. And she’s not looking forward to that.
Raye Hendrickson Writing allows Raye Hendrickson to inhabit the inner workings of our bodies and spirit, and the outer reaches of space. Her poems explore the intricacies of relationships, and the mysteries and curiosities of science and nature. Saskatchewan’s terrain allows her to breathe, and she is glad to be a prairie native. She lives in Regina, and loves being a massage therapist. Her first book of poetry, Five Red Sentries, was released by Thistledown Press in May 2019.
Sarah Greene Reed is a multimedia artist living in Austin, Texas. She holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, and Sotheby’s Institute in New York. Additionally, she studied at Parsons School of Design, the SPEOS Institute in Paris, and the University of Houston. Sarah’s artwork has been exhibited internationally and is in collections such as The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Morris Museum of Art, AT&T and the Capital One Corporate Headquarters. Commercially, her work has been purchased by the FX Network and Columbia Pictures. sarahgreenereed.com.
S. Miria Jo grew up (mostly) in New Hampshire. She lived and worked in New England until 2004, when she drove cross-country in a blue Chevy Blazer with her shiba inu and settled in Los Angeles. In 2017, she flew back and forth between the west coast and the east coast many times, to help her father downsize, pack, and move, and also help him with his serious medical issues. He passed away on October 27, 2017. The photograph in this collection was taken during a final trip back to New Hampshire, to sort and give away some special items to friends. miriadesign.com.
Sally Hikaka is a Māori fibre artist living and creating in Aotearoa/New Zealand. As an indigenous artist, Sally has a deep connection, love and respect for the natural world. She is drawn to botanicals, particularly New Zealand natives, and uses plant-based materials in her work. Her science background informs her process, influences her methodology, and affords her valuable insights. She lives and creates in the space which exists at the intersection of her Māori and non-Māori ancestry, combining traditional techniques and materials in new and innovative ways. Her current work explores people’s emotional needs, perceptions and connections to place. pirihirajames.com, instagram.com/sallyhikaka
Sarah Kilch Gaffney is a writer, brain injury advocate, and homemade caramel aficionado. She lives with her family in Maine, and her work can be found at sarahkilchgaffney.com.
Shannon Loucks is a spinner of tales, seeker of sunsets, and director of adventure. Since as long ago as she can remember, putting words to paper has helped her make sense of the world. Whether it be to profess her love or untangle heartbreak, leaking ink onto nearby surfaces has brought about both strength and courage. Much of her writing can be found at breakingdaylight.org. Her latest book, Love More, is available through Amazon, with a side project Caught In a Story that lives both on Instagram and Facebook.
Shannon MacFarlane lives, loves, and plays in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, son, and animal family. She walks with grieving families to preserve legacies and tell stories through photography, paint, and words and believes that art and grief (and love) are a natural partnership. Her work with families that include non-human members is under Slobbered Lens. She works with other families by referral only.
Sherry Jennings spent over 40 years living through the seasons with young children as an early childhood teacher while hoping a writer would emerge one day. When she retired three years ago, Sherry joined a writing group. Since then she has been excitedly putting her purple pen to paper, writing poetry and personal essays. She is currently working on a memoir.
Sondra Hall loves words as much as she loves bread (which is an awful lot) and enjoys galavanting around in her imagination with pencil and paper in hand. She wholeheartedly believes in the power of the written word to transform both writer and reader. Because she felt that kids didn’t spend enough time swimming in their imaginations and applying their creative spark to the page, she founded “Take My Word For It!” as a way to bring the adventure that is writing to elementary- and middle-school kids. For 14 years, her organization served thousands of students in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Northern Virginia. Her memoir-in-progress, “Admitted,” is an attempt to reconcile a hellish period in her and her young family’s life, when she was swallowed whole by severe depression.
Sue Daly’s poems have been published in several Journals and Anthologies. Her poetry chapbook, “A Voice at Last” was published by DADs Desk Publishing in 2017. Sue writes “Plug into Poetry,” a monthly newsletter highlighting Sacramento poetry readings and writing groups. She also leads a poetry workshop at Wellspring Women’s Center in Sacramento. Sue has an interest in empowering women to write and share their poetry with others.
Susan Vespoli splits her time between Arizona and Washington state. She returned to school in her 50s to earn an MFA from Antioch University L.A. Her work has been published in Nailed Magazine, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, Mom Egg Review, Emrys Journal, Writing Bloody, Role Reboot, New Verse News, Pact Press, South 85 Review, dancing girl press, and others. susanvespoli.com
Tamara Bailie lives in Utah with her husband, three daughters, two cats, and one hedgehog. She is a songwriter and a poet and writes to help herself figure out how she feels about things.
Tanya Levy is a counsellor, an educator, a writer and a digital artist. As an artist, she photographs nature, especially cloud hearts, light, or whatever calls to be captured. Her photos speak to her and tell her their message. Her art is also featured in the “Priestesses of the New Earth” oracle card deck. She has worked in the human services field for 30 years. She is passionate and a strong advocate for the healing power of everyone’s own unique journey. Her writing can be found in the 365 book series created by Jodi Chapman and Dan Teck.
Teri Foltz began a career as a poet and playwright after retiring from teaching others to write. She published her first book of poems, Green and Dying, in 2017. She resides in Northern Kentucky where she participates in several writing groups. She was one of twelve poets chosen to study with her favorite poet, Billy Collins in 2018. She is happy to be included in Grief Becomes You.
Theresa Proenza is an educator and nonprofit administrator from Vermilion, Ohio. Her creative writing includes narratives on family; reflections on life and the intersection of our public and private selves, the stranger within; and, nature as a source of inspiration and guidance in life.
Tina Cervin is a poet, teacher and yogi who divides her time between San Francisco and Sonoma County. She has taught with California Poets in the Schools and has studied with Ellen Bass, Marie Howe, and Dorianne Laux, among others. She guides women in generative writing around her dinning room table at Come to The Page. She co-edited A Ghost at Heart’s Edge: Poetry & Fiction on Adoption.
Victoria Ostrer is 49-year old dormant artist, pursuing a new career to be around animals, like ALL the time. She recently woke up and started actually living the life that she dreamt she was living!