Be Well Be Here presents our seasonal FREE virtual literary event

Be Brave Book Group

The Healing Power of Storytelling

with Dr. Annie Brewster and Rachel Zimmerman

Wednesday, February 23 at 7:30 pm

Join author and physician Dr. Annie Brewster with celebrated journalist Rachel Zimmerman for an online discussion of their co-created book, The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss.

FREE and open to all. Please register for your Zoom link. Be Well Be Here’s initial Be Brave Book Group of 2022 is offered in collaboration with the Concord Free Public Library. Arrive with questions, and Be present for moments of compassion, insight and connection that arise with shared storytelling.  

BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group features celebrated authors who bravely share mindful conversation about their personal journeys as writers and the risks taken to craft authentic, powerful narratives.

ABOUT THE HEALING POWER OF STORYTELLING

Reframe your story – and reclaim your life – through the transformative practice of writing and storytelling…
When Harvard-trained physician Dr. Annie Brewster was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, she realized firsthand that the medical system to which she’d devoted her entire career was failing patients. The experience was dehumanizing. Her doctors weren’t listening. And the confusion, fear, and shame she felt around her diagnosis was preventing her from truly healing, claiming her story, and living her fullest, richest life.

The fact is, doctors can give you a life-changing diagnosis, but they’re not equipped to help you deal with the inner fallout: the confusion, anxiety, trauma, and dread that comes after “I have some bad news.” Here, Dr. Brewster shows how writing your own unique healing story can help you process what comes next–to come to terms, create new ways to thrive, and even reclaim your personal power amid fear, change, and uncertainty.
 
Dr. Brewster and journalist Rachel Zimmerman each share their own personal stories, acting as expert guides as you move forward on your healing journey. With exercises, reflections, writing prompts, and stories from other real patients, Dr. Brewster and Zimmerman show how you can:

   • Process the difficult emotions that come with life-changing diagnosis
   • Move beyond being the hero of your own story to become the author of your own story
   • Craft your narrative and share it in whatever medium speaks to you: music, audio, art, or writing
   • Integrate a traumatic health event into a new and evolving identity
   • Use applied storytelling techniques to strengthen connections between you and your loved ones (and even your care providers)
   • Cultivate resilience to move forward amid uncertainty and fear

- from PenguinRandomHouse.com

About BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group

This online program was established by BWBH founder Lara Wilson along with board members Marjan Kamali and Whitney Scharer to celebrate courageous authors and diverse stories.

The Be Brave Book Group features authors who courageously share mindful conversation about their personal journeys as writers exploring the risks taken to craft meaningful personal narratives. Join us to hear the real story-behind-the-story, and Be inspired by storytellers whose words make a difference.

Be Well Be Here presents our summer online literary event

Be Brave Book Group: Grief, Light & Love

Tuesday, August 17 at 7:30 pm

MARYANNE O’HARA

author of Little Matches: A Memoir of Grief and Light

Join author Maryanne O’Hara as she shares the story of her unforgettable journey with her daughter Caitlin, diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 2. What began as a mother’s blog while she faced uncertainty about her daughter’s wellBeing became a literary celebration of life, Little Matches: A Memoir of Grief and Light, which explores what it means to Be human, to grieve and to love.

As Maryanne writes, “Living with chronic uncertainty and fear became a way of life for us. It took its toll, of course, but it also produced some marvelous benefits. Carpe diem. Live in the moment. Cherish what you have while you have it.”

FREE and open to all. Come with questions, and Be present for moments of compassion and wisdom.  

BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group features celebrated authors sharing mindful conversation about their personal journeys as writers and the risks taken to craft authentic, meaningful narratives.

Maryanne O’Hara is the author, most recently, of Little Matches: A Memoir of Grief and Light (HarperCollins, 2021). Little Matches is inspired by 9LivesNotes.com, a blog that Maryanne kept while her daughter Caitlin was waiting for a lung transplant. Maryanne and Caitlin’s story has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, People Magazine, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative writing, has taught creative writing at Emerson College, and was a longtime editor at the literary journal, Ploughshares. She is the author of an award-winning novel, Cascade (Viking/Penguin 2012), many short stories, and is a recipient of literary grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the St. Botolph Club.

After volunteering as an end-of-life volunteer at care facilities in Boston and Pittsburgh, Maryanne became a certified end-of-life doula at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine in 2019. She lectures on topics including chronic illness, bereavement, and secular spirituality and is the developer of a legacy writing workshop that facilitates personal and communal reflective creative practices across identity, age, and health status.

Caitlin was her only child. Maryanne and her husband Nick live near Boston.

Learn more about Maryanne and Caitlin’s story…

About BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group

This online program was established by BWBH founder Lara Wilson along with board members Marjan Kamali and Whitney Scharer to celebrate courageous authors and diverse stories.

The Be Brave Book Group features authors who courageously share mindful conversation about their personal journeys as writers exploring the risks taken to craft meaningful personal narratives. Join us to hear the real story-behind-the-story, and Be inspired by storytellers whose words make a difference.

Jennifer De Leon is the author of Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From (Atheneum/ Simon & Schuster, 2020) and the editor of Wise Latinas (University of Nebraska Press). An Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Framingham State University, and a GrubStreet instructor and board member, she has published prose in over a dozen literary journals, including Ploughshares, Iowa Review, and Michigan Quarterly Review. Her essay collection, White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, will be published by UMass Press in Spring 2021. She lives outside of Boston with her husband two sons.

Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From tells the story of first-generation American LatinX Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new nearly all-white school. But when family secrets spill out and racism at school ramps up, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.

Desmond Hall is a Jamaican born author of debut YA novel, Your Corner Dark. He has written and directed the HBO feature movie, “A Day in Black and White,” which was nominated for the Gordon Parks Award. He’s also written and directed a full-length stage play, “Stockholm, Brooklyn” that won the Audience Award at the Downtown Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane Theater in NYC, and was picked for the Public Theater's New Works Series. Desmond has worked as a high school teacher in Brooklyn, and counseled teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island Correctional Institution. As an advertising creative director, he’s written many TV campaigns, two Superbowl commercials and won multiple awards while running the creative side of Spike Lee’s advertising agency. While working in the advertising and film industry, he served on the board of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the Advertising Council, judged the One Show, Addys and the NYC Downtown Film Festival. He’s also been named one of Variety magazine’s Top 50 Creatives to Watch.

Your Corner Dark is a fast-paced thriller that has been described as American Street meets Long Way Down. This searing and gritty novel takes an unflinching look at the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and how far a teen is willing to go for family. The book confronts police brutality, “Colorism”, gang culture and political deception.

About BWBH’s Be Brave Book Group: This online program was established by BWBH founder Lara Wilson along with board members Marjan Kamali and Whitney Scharer to celebrate courageous authors and diverse stories. The Be Brave Book Group features authors who are willing to share mindful conversation about creating authentic characters, their personal journeys as writers bravely exploring matters of equity and justice, and the risks taken to craft meaningful narratives. Join us to hear the real story-behind-the -story, and Be inspired by brave authors sharing narratives we ALL need to read.