When grief threatens to drown us, Mourning Pages shows us how to write our way back to shore. A compassionate, soul-baring guide for anyone navigating the devastating terrain of loss. Claudia Love Mair--a mother, writer, and artivist grieving the death of her son--invites us into a deeply personal journey of healing through expressive writing. With raw honesty, spiritual insight, and gentle humor, Mair offers a safe space for mourners to write their way through sorrow, rage, numbness, and even moments of grace. Blending story, poetry, and guided prompts, Mourning Pages offers a step-by-step guide to use writing as a tool for healing after loss. The practices in the book draw from proven therapeutic techniques like expressive writing and morning pages to teach us how to write our way through grief while honoring its messy, nonlinear nature. Mair's voice is tender and unfiltered, speaking directly to the reader as a soul friend, not an expert. She shares her own heartbreak and the stories of others who have lost children, siblings, parents, and partners--creating a community of kinship on the page. Whether you're newly bereaved or carrying a long-held grief, this book offers tools to help you process pain, remember your person, and begin to heal. If you've ever felt like grief might swallow you whole, Mourning Pages is here to remind you: You are not alone, and your words can be your lifeline.
Claudia Love Mair is the author of numerous books, including her memoir Don't You Fall Now. She holds an MFA in writing from Spalding University and serves as the coordinator for the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning's Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative. Her work has been featured in Still: The Journal, The Phoenix Soul, and Abbey for the Arts. She lives in Frankfort, Kentucky.
"This intelligent, moving, and witty book is more than writing instructions or a meditation on grief--it's a survival guide. Mair does not shy away from revealing the unspeakable sorrow she experienced, but she has turned that into a positive, a balm for all of us. Like the author herself, Mourning Pages is pure love." --Silas House, New York Times bestselling author and Kentucky Poet Laureate, 2023-2024 "This is a healing book, one that holds you in a community of grieving writers and will bring you home again to yourself in new ways, carved out by your loss. If you are in mourning, this book will be a companion and a balm." --Christine Valters Paintner, online abbess of Abbey of the Arts and author of Practicing Resurrection: An Embodied Pilgrimage Through the Easter Season, as well as more than twenty-five books on spirituality and creativity "Specifically aimed at those who have lost loved ones to death, Mourning Pages offers an essential mix of memento mori, writing prompts, and exhortations for self-care, held together by the connective tissue of advice for writing through the grieving process.... This unique book is a gift, a powerful antidote to the inertia that so often hampers active grieving." --Jacinda Townsend, author of Trigger Warning and Mother Country "Mourning Pages belongs beside the bed, not on a shelf. It is for anyone who has lost someone and found that silence was louder than language. It reminds us that writing can be a form of care, a way to stay alive to ourselves when the world feels irrevocably altered." --Shayla Lawson, author of This Is Major and How to Live Free in a Dangerous World "Claudia Love Mair is a perfect guide for someone who has lost a loved one. She's authentic, insightful, and full of hope. Her Mourning Pages helped me find relief in my grief." --Neil Chethik, author of FatherLoss "When the death of a beloved son overwhelmed Claudia Love Mair, writing helped her cope. In Mourning Pages, this talented author beautifully shares some of her own journey and offers a lot of practical writing advice to others facing unfathomable loss." --Tom Eblen, journalist and writer "Reading this book is like talking with a friend who understands your grief, at a time when you most desperately need someone to help you through." --Jennifer Hester Mattox, executive director of the Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning "This book reads like you just sat down for a cup of coffee with your best friend--she's going to comfort you, but she's not going to sugarcoat any of the difficult parts.... Mourning Pages is a brilliant guide to grief, to writing, to the life we lead between the two." --Jay McCoy, MAEd, MFA, director of Kentucky Center for the Book "Mourning Pages is a book that sits down beside you in your darkest hour, hands you a notebook and a pen, and holds space for the messy, honest, impossible truth of grief. Claudia Love Mair, known for her powerful, vulnerable, and relatable writing, stays present throughout the stages of grief with the tone of a loving relative or best friend who has seen her share of tragedy.... Gentle, skillful prompts guide you in creating your own mourning pages. At once heart-rending, relatable, and hopeful, Mourning Pages is a tremendous resource for your writing practice." --Renee Rigdon, author of Plant Daddy "Having stood on the shoulders of giants and survived a devastating personal loss, Claudia Love Mair brings us Mourning Pages--her notable contribution to the field of grief writing. This work is part how-to, part support group, part memoir, and part writing workshop.... Friend, you are about to receive invaluable guidelines, safety affirmations, prompts, examples, and--just as importantly--permission to grieve in whatever way works for you. You are about to meet a compassionate and competent guide on your journey from grief to wholeness." --Katerina Stoykova, author of The Poet's Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry
