The Next Chapter Reading Group

The last few years have been shitful. Many people, myself included, have lost loved ones, and have been unable to partake in the cultural rituals that we normally use to share our love and support for each other. Some of us may be processing losses of people or expectations from before this time: a changed world is as much a cause for mourning as the loss of a beloved. There is no timeline on grief, we live with it every day. However, we don’t have to experience it alone.

The Next Chapter reading group uses poetry, fiction, essays, and graphic narratives to explore the grieving process. The readings are supplemented with a discussion forum where members can post articles, essays, art, their own reflections or anything they find useful in this ongoing healing process. The Next Chapter hopes to provide a small step in the continual healing process.

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These are the readings you might like to try.

Elma Kris performs Bowls of Mourning from Dark Emu with Bangarra Dance Theatre
Our Experience of Grief is Unique as a Fingerprint by David Kessler
A Monster Calls based on the graphic novel by Patrick Ness. Available to stream on Netflix.

Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Photo by Ravi Kant on Pexels.com

Adult Grief by Louise Glück

ON WITNESS AND RESPAIR by Jessmyn Ward
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney

Haud Close Tae Me by Jackie Kay (The Scottish Makar) and the Scottish Ballet.
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Pushing Through by Rainer Maria Rilke, from The Dark Interval.
Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

and Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Coping with mortality: An essay on self-mourning by Thomas Attig, from Death
Studies, 13:4, 361-370, DOI: 10.1080/07481188908252314

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

Singing Death: Why Music and Grief Go Hand in Hand by Helen Maree Hickey and Helen Dell

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