Writing into the Heart: Finding Refuge and Surviving the Suicide of A Loved One Workshop with Natalie-Pascale Boisseau
This workshop is an invitation to explore the loss of a dear or close one to suicide, and the very complex and unresolved grief remaining for much part of one’s life, by entering into the heart of what is alive, which wants to be expressed. It is inspired by the compassionate and generative writing practice developed by Natalie Goldberg discussed in her book Writing Down the Bones. The workshop is offered to both writers and non-writers alike, and includes contemplative and sensory exercises to anchor body and mind in nowness. Writing with prompts and memories, optional sharing, and quiet listening, will offer a vivid space, a momentary refuge one needs to create, and a river to navigate both anguish and the brilliance of the present moment.
Facilitator The facilitator is Natalie Pascale Boisseau, a bilingual Québec writer from Montréal now living near Seattle. She is currently writing “Exiles and Migrations in the Landscape of Maternal Suicide,” a survivor’s memoir on finding refuge in the midst of personal storms. She is recipient of a 2023 4Culture (King County) Project Grant. Her stories and poems appear in Isele Magazine, Crab Creek Review, and This Light Called Darkness, a Raven Chronicle Anthology. Her life’s work includes working for Cirque du Soleil, being a journalist and copyright attorney for artists, and, recently, saving a forest near her home in Lake Forest Park. She is working currently as an acupuncturist and healing arts practitioner and as a meditation instructor. https://www.nataliepascaleboisseau.com/about-natalie
This free workshop is a collaboration with Hugo House, the presence of Crisis Connections, and the support of a grant from 4Culture Writing Project 2023
When: Saturday October 26 from 10am to 12:30 pm
Where: At Hugo House, 1634 11th Avenue, Seattle WA 98122
Cost: Free Registration link below or email NPBoisseauWrite@gmail.com
The workshop is followed by work in progress Public Reading by Natalie Pascale Boisseau, on October 30, from 6 to 8pm at Hugo House