Pearlsong Media Peggy Elam, Ph.D.

Click here to listen to or download the 54-min mp3 recording of today's Pearlsong Conversation with Louise Mathewson, author of A Life Interrupted: Living with Brain Injury.

A Life Interrupted is a collection of poems chronicling Louise's recovery from a brain-damaging car accident. The book also contains a list of journaling therapy writing prompts and other resources she found helpful in transcending trauma.

Louise Mathewson holds a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in Chicago. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Wordgathering: Journal of Disability Poetry, Mochila Review, Boulder County Kid and Sasee magazines, and the anthologies Cup of Comfort—Vol. I (Adams Media) and Borderlines ’08 (University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom).

Most recently her work appears in Mentor’s Bouquet, an anthology edited by Linda Leedy Schneider (Finishing Line Press, Fall 2009).

Louise has always loved to write about the sacred moments in everyday experiences, but today these experiences hold even deeper meaning. In February 2003 she emerged from a two-week coma following an auto accident in which she suffered a traumatic brain injury. Though she struggled at first, she resumed writing as soon as she was able. Today Louise lives with her husband in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where she continues to write and recover.

Click on the widget below to browse an excerpt from A Life Interrupted: Living with Brain Injury. For more information or to purchase, go to www.pearlsong.com/alifeinterrupted.htm.

Click on the Podbean player below to listen to the 50 minute recording of today's Pearlsong Conversation with Lonie McMichael, Ph.D., author of Talking Fat: Health v. Persuasion in the War on Our Bodies.

Dr. McMichael has a Ph.D. in technical communication and rhetoric. She is currently teaching professional and technical writing at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her first book, Talking Fat, examines the rhetorical success of the "war on obesity" while considering its absolute failure to make people thinner or to make a difference in the health of the American people. She examines empirical studies and statistics as well as the actual experience of fat people, asserting that the past decade's messages about the "obesity epidemic" are about many things--including prejudice, profit & control--but are not about health. Instead, negative messages about fat have increased prejudice and decreased health in the very people targeted for "help," while increasing profits for those perpetuating such rhetoric.

Dr. McMichael argues that the current weight-centered paradigm is only hurting our society and the individuals within it, and calls for a change in policy and perspective on fat in American society.

Talking Fat is available in original trade paperback & ebook from Pearlsong Press and your favorite booksellers, including Amazon/Kindle, BarnesandNoble.com/Nook,  Powells.com, The Book Depository (with free shipping worldwide) & Apple's iTunes bookstore.

Listen to and/or download the Conversation by clicking here....or listen via the Podbean player below. Click on the Bookbuzzr widget to read an excerpt from Talking Fat.

For more information on the Pearlsong Conversations series, links to recordings of other Conversations, and information on how you can participate in future Conversations, visit the Pearlsong Conversations webpage at www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm.

----more----Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chats with the authors of ExtraOrdinary: An End of Life Story Without End in this month's Pearlsong Conversation.

Publishers Weekly & others have praised ExtraOrdinary as a true-life tale of transformation:

"In this deeply moving and inspiring account, [Michele] Tamaren and [Michael] Wittner share the life story of a man close to their hearts. When Michele’s mother, Betty, married Herman Liss (she was 55 and he was 65), Tamaren finally had a father figure she adored. Always joyful, Herman exuded a love for life that was contagious. His sincere concern for others, his keen intelligence, and his natural grace generated hundreds of meaningful friendship throughout his life. Wittner, who first met Herman as a result of a community service requirement in his high school, became a devoted friend to the older man when Herman nearly lost the resolve to live after Betty’s death. The authors recall, in simple but evocative language, how Herman always encouraged others to follow their dreams and how deep was his commitment to treat others as he would want to be treated. Readers can expect tears to flow as Herman’s life inspires them to be better." (Publishers Weekly)

Click on the Podbean player to listen to the recording of today's Conversation. For more information on the Pearlsong Conversation series and links to archived recordings of previous Conversations, click here.

In the May 20, 2012 Pearlsong Conversations teleconference call, Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. & several Pearlsong authors talked about creating—and reining in— fictional characters.

Authors participating in the Conversation included Lynne Murray, author of The Falstaff Vampire Files, Bride of the Living Dead & the Josephine Fuller mystery series, Anne Richardson Williams (Unconventional Means), Linda C. Wisniewski (Off Kilter), Leslie Moïse, author of Love is the Thread & Judith, & Louise Mathewson (A Life Interrupted).

Links mentioned in this Conversation: Pearl S. Buck Writing Center | Linda Wisniewski's award-winning short story "Cold Beer and Great Good" | "At the Foot of the Lighthouse (Todai Moto Kurashi)" short story by Erin Hoffman |  "Todai Moto Kurashi, and writing the unspeakable" -- Hoffman's reply to commenters (read Hoffman's short story first).

For more information about the Pearlsong Conversation teleconference series and links to archived Conversations in which authors, publisher and readers discuss books and writing, go to the Pearlsong Conversations page at the Pearlsong Press website.

In the February 12, 2012 Pearlsong Conversations teleconference call, publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. talked with Leslie Moïse, Ph.D. about her memoir Love is the Thread: A Knitting Friendship (published by Pearlsong Press in December 2011), her studies of nineteenth century women's fairy tales, and her current writing.

Love is the Thread traces the way one spiritual friendship can change all our relationshps. Sustained by the metaphor of knitting, the memoir centers on the friendship between two women, one snared in a life-long struggle with bipolar disorder and the other reweaving her life after an abusive relationship. The book is available in original trade paperback and ebook from the Pearlsong Press retail store, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Powells.com, the Book Depository (with free shipping worldwide) and elsewhere.

For more information on and links to archived recordings of the Pearlsong Conversations series of teleconference calls featuring authors, publisher and readers, click here.

In the January 15, 2012 Pearlsong Conversations teleconference call, psychologist/publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. talked with Mary Saracino, author of The Singing of Swans & other books.

Mary discussed how she came to write her multi-century novel rife with magical realism and feminine spirituality. She talks about the Black Madonna, which appears throughout The Singing of Swans, and Her roots in pre-Christian traditions; Lake Pergusa, a Sicilian lake whose waters for millennia periodically turned red and thus were associated with feminine mysteries; and even a spiritual meaning of the focus on 2012 "end times."

In addition to her work as a writer, Mary teaches creative writing classes and workshops on the Divine Feminine, which she has studied as an independent scholar for more than 20 years. During the Conversation she reports on workshops planned in Colorado and New Mexico.

The Singing of Swans is available in original trade paperback & ebook from Pearlsong Press. The novel tells the story of Madalene Ross, a thirty-year-old American who "lives in her head," cut off from her body, her heart, and her sense of purpose in the world. En route to and from her job as a computer programmer in Minneapolis, Madalene is hounded on the downtown streets by a homeless woman who asks "Got a match?" At night bizarre dreams haunt her sleep. Women fly through rooftops, chant in ancient temples, paint tongues of fire on vivid white canvases.

Madalene's story is interwoven with the lives of three women: Rosalina, a priestess of Persephone in 70 B.C.E. Sicily; Ziza, a strega (Italian witch) in 16th century northeastern Italy, and Ibla, an herbalist and painter in 18th century southern Italy. Sicily's Lake Pergusa and the Black Madonna also act as a portal to the rich tradition of pre-Christian spirituality that lies beneath Church dogma.

The Singing of Swans takes readers on a multi-century journey to uncover long-silenced traditions, crack Madalene's spiritual code and reclaim her soul. Elements of magical realism dovetail with historical storytelling as this compelling tale of redemption unfolds.