Reading Event, TONIGHT!

Sheila Bender, author of A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief

Monday, October 18 @7pm, Boswell Book Company

Sheila Bender, poet, author and publisher of WritingItReal.com, reads from her prose memoir, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief.

 

In shock and sorrow and full of questions, those who have lost someone dear need stories and the company of others who are living through grief and taking measures to remember the loved ones who are gone. There are few truly welcome resources out there for those in the midst of grief, but Sheila Bender’s A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief fulfills this need by tracing Bender’s experience after her son died suddenly. 

Bender tells the story of her family and the family of her son’s fiancée coming together, understanding Seth would be taken off life support, and moving together to face the upcoming day that would have been a wedding day. At the time of Seth’s death, Sheila was lucky to be a trained writer, with years of writing poetry and teaching others to write poetry under her belt. The tools she needed were there for her, and she realized she would have to use them, and in using them continue on with her life. 

 

In her accessible, absorbing, and beautifully crafted memoir, Bender brings peace to those who mourn by telling the story of using poetry to write her way out of grief and of finding a way to carry her son’s life in her own. Today, proceeds from her book benefit her hometown marine science center, where children learn to love the coastal waters as her son did.

 

Author bio: Sheila Bender has provided teacher training in WA, AZ, and CA. In 2002, she developed and launched www.writingitreal.com as a vehicle to help others foster their best writing.