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Mary Maxwell and Carla Braidek — Book Launch

Thursday May 05 2016 7:00 pm, Saskatoon, Travel Alcove
NOTE: This event has already taken place. Please visit this page to see our upcoming events.
Event type: reading, signing

Map in My Blood & Wind Leaves Absence

Thistledown Press presents the launch of poetry collections Wind Leaves Absence by Mary Maxwell and A Map in My Blood by Carla Braidek.

The poems in Wind Leaves Absence are steeped in loss and lament, as they concern the death of the poet’s family members. Sickness and old age come to her father, and her two brothers are taken before their time, two years apart. Through this emotional counterpoint to life’s implacable realities, Maxwell learns that self-recrimination, denial, or anger cannot change the course of events. She teaches us that grief is a singular experience, and the poems convey this intimacy.

Mary Maxwell has worked as a registered nurse for 40 years, and has degrees in English and extensive study in grief counselling. She is the author of the collection Arrangements, and her articles, short fiction, and poems have appeared in various anthologies and periodicals. She lives in Saskatoon.

A Map in My Blood is a collection informed by tradition, but its subject matter crystalizes in the personal search for meaning. Life’s constant flux shifts the perspective and importance of events and ideas. Everyday moments and seemingly inconsequential acts are allowed their due, while peace and strength show through the loss and effort. In the backdrop, the boreal forest comes alive as the forest, the woman, and the words share the work for meaning and create the beauty in these poems.

Carla Braidek lives and writes in the boreal forest near Big River, Saskatchewan. Her book Carrying the Sun was shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award. She has taught in classrooms from grade 1 to 12 and was a guest speaker and facilitator for the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience.