The Birth of a Widow
by Kathie Giorgio
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“"Kathie Giorgio captures so many aspects of widowhood, and indeed loss in general, in this deeply moving and imaginatively written collection. She examines the sudden and cruel loss of her husband in meticulous detail including the loneliness, loss of identity, and the frustrating search for meaning. I was brought back to my own early days of widowhood but it was a healing journey accompanied by a dear friend who really understands what it feels like. A stunning read for those grappling with loss." —Debbie Weiss, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love New Release
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"In these poems of electric honesty, Giorgio explores how she struggles to survive her first year as a widow, using all her wisdom, humor, anger, to cross the vast sea of grief to the other shore,
bringing us -- wiser too -- along with her."
—Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of I Want to Tell
Author and poet Kathie Giorgio went to Oregon for her annual writing retreat in August 2024. It was only 66 days after the death of her husband Michael. "I don't even remember much about the trip," Kathie says. "But I do remember that I suddenly burst out into poetry about the whole event, from his accident to his dying, to what it was like to be in the first year without him."
Kathie decided she would allow these poems to come whenever they came, for just this first year. No plan to deliberately sit down and write each day, only a permission to just let them happen, until the first anniversary of his death.
The new collection, The Birth of a Widow, is the result of that year of allowing.
Kathie decided she would allow these poems to come whenever they came, for just this first year. No plan to deliberately sit down and write each day, only a permission to just let them happen, until the first anniversary of his death.
The new collection, The Birth of a Widow, is the result of that year of allowing.
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Kathie Giorgio is the critically acclaimed author of eight novels, two story collections, one essay collection, and five poetry books, including Let Me Tell You, Let Me Sing! A Pushcart nominee in fiction and poetry, she’s been awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award in Fiction.
Her poetry won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize, first prize in the Wisconsin Writers Association’s Jade Ring contest, and was included in the Poetry Leaves exhibition in Waterford, Michigan. Kathie has twice earned an Honorable Mention for the Zona Gale Short Fiction Award, and her work was performed on stage for the Stories on Stage series at Su Teatro Theatre in Boulder, Colorado. She was included in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's list of the top 21 Wisconsin Writers of the 21 Century. Kathie is the founder and director of AllWriters’ Workshop and Workplace, an international creative writing studio based in Waukesha, Wisconsin. |
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