The Sky Begins at Your Feet

October 4, 2009

A memoir on cancer, community, ljcover9781888160437
and coming home to the body

THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Ice Cube Books
$19.95 Trade Paperback
ISBN 9781888160437

“A marvelous storyteller, a wise woman, and a teacher in the true sense of the word, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg takes us on a challenging yet ultimately joyful journey that leaves us fundamentally changed.  Anyone who reads this memoir (and you must!) will never forget it.”
– Harriet Lerner, Ph.D, Author of The Dance of Anger

“Embraced by the wide expanse of the Kansas prairie, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg recounts the seasons of her cancer diagnosis and recovery with a finely honed blend of honesty, poignancy and wry humor.  She reminds us that serious illness can re-awaken us to life’s beauty, deepen our respect for the fragile balance between our lives and the earth’s, and find our salvation in love of a supportive community.  This is a book which will surely inspire anyone whose life has been touched by cancer.”
– Sharon Bray, Ed.D., author of When Words Heal: Writing Through Cancer

This memoir by poet and cancer survivor Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg makes an excellent book club or reading group selection.  October is National Reading Group Month — a perfect time for your group to read and discuss this moving book.  A reading group guide is available here, too!

Follow Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg’s blog:  http://carynmirriamgoldberg.wordpress.com/

Be sure to buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!
Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.

MBA BOOKSELLER INFORMATION

Booksellers — Earn up to $100 in rebates from MBA for promoting THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET!
Midwest Connections rebate form for THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET (PDF)

THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET is available from Ice Cube Press, Miller Trade Book Marketing, or from your preferred wholesaler.  Be sure to contact your Miller Trade Book Marketing rep for more information about this title.

If you would like to inquire about setting up bookstore or reading group events or phoners with author Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, please contact Steve Semkin at Ice Cube Press, steve@icecubepress.com.

MBA and Ice Cube Press want your comments and reviews for this new memoir.  Please send them to us so we can share your endorsements with your fellow MBA booksellers and with your customers!

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 ABOUT THE BOOK

“Looking in and looking out, poet Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg makes connections between cancer and our world-out-of-balance, between language and healing. Written with honesty, compassion and surprising humor, THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET reports Goldberg’s journey as she navigates through the landscapes of illnesss, and in the process reveals much about the healing potential of writing ourselves whole.”
– J. Ruth Gendler, author Notes on the Need for Beauty and The Book of Qualities

 “THE SKY BEGINS AT YOUR FEET is a powerfully honest and inspiring story about facing our ultimate fears and surviving. Goldberg’s account of her personal journey — and of the unique community that gathered around her — will stay with you long after you close the pages of this book.” – Katie Towler

“I cannot figure out who I am as a body these days,” writes Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg in this powerful, tender and humorous memoir about resiliency and love in the face of cancer. Mirriam-Goldberg braves breast cancer, the breast cancer genetic mutation and the loss of a parent by connecting with an eclectic Midwest community, the land and sky, and a body undergoing vast renovation. Along the way, she swims with stingrays in the Gulf of Mexico, searches for cream puffs for a Pennsylvania funeral, leads a group fighting to protect ecologically-essential land in Kansas, and helps students find their own voice in Vermont. In searching for a new definition of the erotic through our awareness of nature, this memoir illuminates how our bodies are our most local address on the earth.

“I step outside again in the morning, the overgrown grass of early spring pouring over itself around the tilted cottonwood tree.  The hills and wind around this home carry their own losses and scars, and yet are lit with a green both pale and fierce, quiet and shining, fully here at this moment and on the verge of changing completely.  I return to earth and sky, continually coming home.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR pubphoto1

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the Poet Laureate of Kansas and a long-time bioregionalist, poet, and writer. She is the author of three collections of poetry, Animals in the House, Lot’s Wife, and Reading the Body; an award-winning writing book, Write Where You Are; and the editor of The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader. She founded and coordinates Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College, where she teaches, and she facilitates writing workshops, particularly for people living with serious illness. With rhythm and blues singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt, she also performs and leads Brave Voice writing and singing workshops and retreats. Caryn helped found the Kansas Area Watershed Council, the Continental Bioregional Congress, and the Transformative Language Arts Network. She makes her home with her family just south of Lawrence, Kansas in the Wakarusa river valley.  www.carynmirriamgoldberg.com

Regional events with author Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg:

October 12, 2009:
Write from Your Life: High Plains in Words radio show (Caryn’s radio show featuring a regional writer and a writing exercise). October’s writer: N. Scott Momaday, novelist, essayist and poet. Listen to KPPR-FM at 10:30 a.m. or visit the website to download the podcast.

October 17-18, 2009:
The Sky Begins At Your Feet: Narrative Medicine for Earth & Body, Lawrence Arts Center Gallery, Lawrence, KS.
Events to celebrate the release of Caryn’s memoir, The Sky Begins At Your Feet include a free workshop on “Imagination, Memoir and Place: Writing Ourselves Home,” 1-3 p.m., Sat., Oct. 17; Opening art show on body, land and disruption curated by Carol Ann Carter, 3:30-5 p.m., Oct. 17; panel on narrative medicine 4-6 p.m., Sun., Oct. 18; reading from The Sky Begins At Your Feet 8 p.m., Oct. 18. Organized by KAW Council, and cosponsored by Lawrence Memorial Hospital, The Raven, Ice Cube Press, and the Committee on Imagination and Place.

October 29, 2009:
“Dangerous Curves: Surviving and Thriving,”
A performance on breast cancer awareness featuring Caryn’s poetry, and Kelley Hunt performing songs co-written with Caryn, 8 p.m., McPherson, KS (details to come).

November 3-5, 2009:
Iowa roadtrip to promote The Sky Begins At Your Feet, including reading at Iowa State University, speaking with Mary Swander’s class, and reading at Prairie Lights books.

Friday, November 6, , 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
Book launch for My Tree Called Life: Writing & Living Through Serious Illness (edited by Caryn), and Kansas City launch of The Sky Begins At Your Feet, Turning Point, 8 p.m., Turning Point of Kansas City 8900 State Line, Mission, KS.

November 16, 23, 30, 2009:
“Poetry, Sense of Place and the Prairie: Reading and Writing Our Way Home“ Three-part class, Brandon Woods – Lawrence, KS.

Thursday, November 19, 2009:
Voicing the Spiritual Self: The Language of Doubt and Belief,
interfaith reading Caryn is participating in along with Linda
Rodriguez, Deborah Shouse, Ron Zoglin, and others, 7 p.m., The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO.

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