Award-winning author shares why it’s important to grieve
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2016 (3629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Martha Brooks considers herself many things — “cultural anthropologist of 17-year-olds” being one of them.
But the author of primarily young adult fiction never expected to add “widowed” to her list of descriptors.
The process of accepting the death of her husband and learning how to love and marry again is the subject of her 2015 memoir, “Letters to Brian: A Year of Remembrance and Living.”
Brooks’s mourning-turned-writing process was also the topic of her reading and book signing at the Brandon Public Library earlier this week.
“In this culture, there’s an expectation that you’ll get on with it and suck it up, get over it,” said the Winnipeg-based author, who was raised in Ninette.
“It’s normal to feel sad when you love somebody and they die. Why would you want to take away the pain of the process and stunt your growth as a human being in the process?”
When Brian passed away from a year-long battle with cancer, Brooks began to write daily letters to her late husband.
Upon realizing the letters could help others accept their own loss, Brooks decided to pursue a grant opportunity and turn the personal musings into a book.
The author believes that North American society struggles to “honour” the grieving process, instead stifling it.
But for Brooks, allowing herself to properly mourn the loss of Brian resulted in returning to an emotional state in which she could love and marry again.
“I broke open more and more, and because of that my heart healed, and it’s different now. I will always grieve him, but I’ve opened myself up to joy because I grieved him.”
“Letters to Brian” was released in April 2015 and received the 2016 Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for non-fiction.
This is the 12th book Brooks has published.
» aantoneshyn@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @AAntoneshyn