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Podcast interview highlights healing from childhood trauma

It’s rare to be asked, in an interview with a businessman, about your spiritual beliefs and how they’ve influenced your life choices. Thankfully, author and executive Ken Hannaman is no ordinary businessperson. He’s the author and host of the podcast Ungraduated Living and like me, drawn to eastern philosophies and religions. That’s part of what…

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Memoir book launch April 15 in Sechelt, BC

I look forward to introducing my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket to my local Sunshine Coast, BC community on Saturday, April 15. My informal book launch (not the official one in Toronto on May 28) will be held at 7 pm at the Sunshine Coast Cultural Centre in Sechelt. I’ll discuss the book, its…

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Mini-book reading April 7 at Artesia Coffeehouse

Artesia Coffeehouse attendees will get a sneak preview of my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket on April 7 at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt, BC. I’ll be giving a seven-minute reading from my memoir about my visit to the erotic sandstone temples in Khajuraho, India in 1991. This will be from chapter…

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Official book launch May 28 in Toronto

      I’m delighted that I’ll be joining seven other authors from publisher Guernica Editions on Sunday, May 28 to launch my new memoir in Toronto. Join us at Supermarket Bar in the city’s Kensington area at 3:30 pm. You’ll hear me read short excerpts from No Letter in Your Pocket: How a daughter…

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Om By the Beach

I really enjoyed being interviewed on Om By the Beach, a European podcast hosted by Josef Schinwald. Our one-hour discussion about Being on a Spiritual Path covered many areas, from Buddhist concepts of compassion, forgiveness, and no-self to writing about trauma, coaching others about writing about their trauma, and my memoir No Letter in Your…

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A shishalh Nation Knowledge-keeper shares poetry and stories

  Before xwu’p’a’lich Barbara Higgins was born in 1933, members of the shíshálh Nation were waiting for her to take on the role of Rememberer or Knowledge-keeper (her ancestral name means “she weaves”). Since then, she has voiced the importance of preserving Nature, her people’s land, language, and culture through her stories, poems, and activism….

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Webinar “Trauma and truth-telling in memoir” offered Nov. 16

I’m delighted to be offering the webinar “Trauma and truth-telling in memoir: the risks and rewards of revealing secrets” on Nov. 16 from 2:00 to 3:15 PST. I’m doing it through the U.S. foundation and magazine Creative Nonfiction. I’ll be drawing on first-hand experiences from writing my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket and will include…

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Jessica Silvey weaves the legacy of ancestors in cedar

    It was a delight to profile Jessica Silvey, who’s shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) with the ancestral name Kwahama Kwatleematt, and has been weaving cedar baskets, hats, and décor for more than 30 years. I profiled her, the owner of Red Cedar Woman studio, as the cover story for the winter 2021 issue of…

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Heather Conn profile: hospice volunteer

Some people could never imagine offering comfort as a bedside companion to a stranger who is dying. Or sitting in an all-night vigil for someone’s final hours. In hospice training, we learn that compassion, deep listening, acceptance, and non-judgment are core traits needed to remain truly present with those who are dying or grieving a…

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Heather Conn reveals two favourite cards from her SoulCollage deck

The following article, which I wrote, appeared in the Sept. 26, 2016 issue of the global e-newsletter Soul Treasures, published by KaleidoSoul in Massachusetts. Reader Kas Sobey-Knabb responded: “Heather, just wanted to reach out to you after reading your upbeat and lovely piece in Kaleidosoul Soul Songs.Enjoyed it and meeting your 2 Neters [symbolic guides]! Quite colorful…