Saturday, April 26, 2-4 PM: Martha Gies, Oregon Author, Celebrates her Memoir “Broken Open:” Meet and Greet, Reading, Book Talk with Valerie Ihsan, Q & A, Signing
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Broken Open is a memoir told in essays exploring a life robustly and thoughtfully lived by Martha Gies, an acclaimed writer, activist and teacher, now entering her eighth decade. With dry wit, sharp insights, and deep empathy for the underdog, Gies writes about the principal illusions and disillusions of childhood and the experiments made in exploring “right livelihood,” following both fate and choice to a wise and forgiving assessment of what it all means.
From the Publisher: “May you live every day of your life,” counseled Jonathan Swift. This collection—15 personal essays, two profiles and one interview—covers decades of a life robustly lived. Its three sections explore, respectively, the illusions and disillusions of childhood, the search for right livelihood, and the reflections and discoveries of age, all told with a gift for humor and all lived with the courage to face heartbreak.
About the Author: Martha Gies was raised in the solitude of rural Oregon with a love of literature and a yearning for friends unmet. Her family’s relative affluence discomforted her and provoked a lifelong preoccupation with justice. Unlikely jobs—asparagus packing manager, deputy sheriff, cocktail waitress, stage manager—provided material for writing. She founded Traveler’s Mind, an annual ten-day workshop in non-touristic communities in Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, India, Mexico and Nicaragua, and taught it for twenty years.
REVIEWER QUOTES
“It is an exquisite book.” – Elinor Langer, author of A Hundred Little Hitlers
“This book is a beautiful thing.” – M. Allen Cunningham, author of We Are Guests of Ancient Time
“These essays shine with unassuming openness.” – Doug Marx, poet, musician, artist
“Gies combines an obvious affinity for a good story with a close study of humans in all their brokenness and illumination.” – Laura Moulton, founder of Street Books & co-author of Loaners: The Making of a Street Library
“...a fascinating mixture of memoir, social observation, and literary journalism…written in a clear clean rhythm that moves swiftly forward even as it plunges into surprising depths.” - Bob Hicks, arts and culture editor Read the full review here >>
“Artful and deeply personal essays comprise this splendid new memoir…[Gies] demonstrates her ease at bringing elegance, humor, and pathos to the printed page.” - Activist Joe Martin in Seattle’s Post Alley Read the full review here >>
Valerie Ihsan, Story Analyst and Transformation Coach for Creatives, writes memoirs, women’s fiction, and nonfiction for writers. She co-chaired the Eugene Chapter of Willamette Writers for over eight years, diagnoses manuscripts as a Certified Three Story Method Editor, and helps authors write memoirs. She podcasts at the Writer Craft Podcast, loves dogs, and runs an annual writing retreat and workshop in Marcola, OR. She lives in Oregon with her husband and two dogs.