Author and poet Kathryn Carole Ellison is about to publish her ninth book of poetry–at age 80. Kathryn has been writing poems for 43 years. She began publishing her poems in her mid-seventies. Today has six beautiful books of poetry and three more on the way this year. She’s turning eighty in May.
She writes to send a message of hope to the world and distill lessons to share from the richness and challenges she encountered in a long life, well lived.
Kathyrn began writing poetry for her children in the 1970s when they were reaching the “age of reason,” and she was leaving an abusive marriage, becoming a single parent, and overcoming alcohol addiction. She wanted to share “life’s lessons” and “words of wisdom” with them. Poetry was her way to communicate with her teenage children to help them make good decisions in life, without a barrage of words and lectures that would fall on deaf ears.
After Ellison’s second husband died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2008, she decided it was time to share her poetry with the world. In 2014, at the age of 75, she started a business and began the journey into the world of publishing and fulfilling her life’s purpose. Ellison wants to share the message that it’s never too late to pursue one’s dreams.
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Highlights and quotes from the episode:
How writing can heal.
How she uses poetry as a tool for reaching out to others–including her own children.
How Kathyrn coped with the process of seeing her second husband descend into dementia.
How she experienced the pull to create and felt an inner push to write and publish her poems.
Why you don’t need an MFA to share poems.
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More about our guest:
Author and poet Kathryn Carole Ellison’s six beautiful books of poetry are a result of a lifetime of writing—first as a journalist. Then, because she had some life lessons to share with her children, she chose poetry as a means of communicating.
The books, Celebrations, Heartstrings, Inspirations, Sanctuary, Awakenings and Sojourns, contain poems from a collection written over a span of 43 years. She will be releasing three new books in 2019. The “Poems of Life and Love” are as fresh and relevant today as they were when she first wrote them.
Kathryn began writing poetry for her children in the 1970s when they were reaching the “age of reason,” and she was leaving an abusive marriage, becoming a single parent, and overcoming alcohol addiction. She wanted to share “life’s lessons” and “words of wisdom” with her them. Poetry was her way to communicate with her teenage children to help them make good decisions in life, without a barrage of words and lectures that would fall on deaf ears.
And so, the Advent Poems began. Kathryn gave her children one new poem a day during Advent, along with a trinket. More than 40 years later, her grown children still look forward to each Advent season to receiving her poems. In total, Ellison has penned more than 600 inspirational and wisdom-filled poems for living a more joy-filled life and overcoming every-day challenges.
The Show Notes
Connect with Kathryn at www.Giftsoflove.com
Find her books on Amazon.
Thank you for sharing your story with such incredible grace and vulnerability. Beautiful inspiration!!!
Thanks for your comment Sonya.