Description:
Inspired by the grief of Australian musician Nick Cave, this edited anthology showcases a range of creative and aesthetic practices for dealing with grief. In doing so, it challenges attempts to homogenise grief and depict it as a solely negative state from which the bereaved must expediently escape.
Review Quotes:
"This anthology showcases many creative endeavors and rituals to create meaning and posthumous storied connections. While the book is filled with anthropological wisdom, readers will discover heartfelt, moving accounts throughout affirming how grief charts new pathways that stand against the Western misperceptions that relationships end at death."
Lorraine Hedtke, MSW, ACSW, PhD, professor of counseling, California State University, San Bernardino, USA, and co-author (along with J. Winslade), of The Crafting of Grief
"This book is a fascinating collection of stories, observations and reflections from the space where grief leaves us searching for new ways to understand our changed world: where we must learn anew 'how to be.' Bringing together ethnography, creativity, and reflection on using our senses when words fail us, the authors have crafted a rich and intriguing invitation to look, listen and live differently."
Kathryn Mannix, author, end-of-life-care campaigner and retired palliative physician, Northumberland, UK
"This beautifully crafted collection of multi-disciplinary, creative workings challenges the reader to reimagine grief and to embrace the creative possibilities it affords. Each story is carefully and sensitively told, through words and imagery, resulting in accounts that are intellectually stimulating, emotionally engaging, uplifting, and life affirming."
Gayle Letherby, visiting professor, Plymouth, Greenwich, Bath, UK