- by Joseph Carrabis
This is a wonderful opportunity to help trauma survivors get their stories and work out to a wider audience.
For those who don’t know, Katie Koestner was on the cover of TIME Magazine at the age of 18 as the first person to speak out nationally and publicly as the victim of “date” rape. She is now the Producer and Host of the Dear Katie: Survivor Stories podcast.
My function is two fold. One, to find any creatives (not just authors) whose work deals with trauma and healing, and engage them in podcast conversations regarding their work and their lives post trauma. Two, to help find trauma survivors who’ll share their stories for the main Dear Katie podcast, review episodes before they go to air, edit, and make suggestions as necessary.
Please leave a comment if you or someone you know has written a fiction or non-fiction book, article, or story about surviving trauma. Include the title of the published work, the publisher, a synopsis of the story, and a link to where I can find it online.
Thanks.
– Joseph Carrabis
My own work in this area can be seen in the material listed below. Your work doesn’t need to mirror or echo my subject matter to be considered; it only needs to be well-written and deal with survivor issues.
- Published novel: The Augmented Man (graphic violence; sexual trauma; child abuse; PTSD; emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological abuse)
- Published short story: “The Boy in the Giant” elsewhere in this blog and in Harvey Duckman Volume 6 (myth/folktale about overcoming childhood abuse)
- Published short story: “The Settlement” (violence, child abuse)
- Unpublished series: Recovery Triptych available on this blog starting with “Recovery Triptych: The Echo” (you name it, it’s in here)
Post Title – Producer, Dear Katie: Survivors on the Page Book Club; Editor, Dear Katie: Survivor Stories I joined the Katie Koestner organization as Producer, Dear Katie: Survivors on the Page Book Club, and Editor, Dear Katie: Survivor Stories.
writers co-op 
Thanks for putting this out there. I wish I could participate, but my work is not yet published, and though I have a complete draft, I’m not happy with it, and I’m still trying to decide what the final product will look like. My first novel is a love story between a woman with sexual trauma and a man conceived by rape, and how they work toward healing through a consensual kink relationship. If they are just looking for survivor stories, I definitely have one of those, having fled my home at age 17 to escape sexual and psychological abuse, only to find disbelief, blame, and ostracism when someone in the social services field “outed” me to my family. While psychologically devastating, it taught me a lot about human nature. And love helped me to heal, which is why I write about love, and will continue writing about love until the day I die.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Nice
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for sharing this, GD.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Space, Time, and Raspberries and commented:
For those who need to heal or wish to help others heal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hello and thank you all for responding.
I truly believe this is important work and appreciate any and all spreading the word and letting others know help and healing are available. Please contact me as the Dear Katie organization can direct you to providers if you wish.
Mamasquid – that’s a powerful story. I’d love to see it when you’re ready to share.
Thanks again, all. – Joseph
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Joseph. The Dear Katie: Survivor Stories podcast is precisely the kind of thing that allows us to live in Charlotte Ahlin’s “unvarnished reality” and not become cynics.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for putting this out and for raising awareness. As a species, we are storytellers. When we share our stories, the bonds of human connection and compassion are strengthened.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree completely, Victor. “It is silence which isolates.” (Thomas Mann)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Here’s a quote from Katy Tur, who just wrote about her abusive father in a memoir, Rough Draft:
“No one is so amazing that they’re able to solve all of their own problems. Find an outlet, [don’t] bottle it up … The best way for me to do it was to get it down on the page, for someone else it’s talking to a therapist or their loved one or maybe it’s writing a diary that no one ever sees.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
So true, Mimispieke. And thanks for the Katy Tur/Rough Draft reference. I’ll look it up.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My father’s family came from Switzerland around 1916. In Switzerland, my grandfather abandoned his family for several years, moved in with my grandmother’s sister, and had a family there. He eventually returned to his wife. She took him back! In Sly, The structure of the Zendegi/ Zambrano families mimics my grandfather’s betrayal. I USE EVERYTHING.
My mother’s mother was a tyrant. Mom didn’t have it in her to to stand up for herself; she gave in. After years of having boyfriends chased off by her mother, Dad bopped onto the scene. He needed a woman who would never confront him, who would give in always. That was my mother to a T. Nanny wasn’t able to frighten him off. Something bad had happened in Nanny’s family also. My sister said Nanny had told her once to never be alone with our brother. To me, that says abuse happened there.
My father bullied my mother and she drank to escape it. I could not talk to Mom about our family dynamic. She would get a look on her face like a puppy being beaten to death, and I’d drop it.
A brilliant man (but lacking in people skills), Dad felt he had not reached the professional success he was entitled to. (This despite that he wrote the curriculum and directed the Electrical Training program for a major government program of the sixties and seventies.
He was a near genius (pronounced so by an IQ test) and his kids were supposed to be the proof of his superiority. We all three let him down. I’m filled with anger, and I’m filled with guilt. My pain is on the table in Sly. I intend to have some good of the shit I’ve been through.
I’ve thought about seeing a therapist, but I can’t see myself doing anything other than crying, unable to speak. Why bother now? I’m almost seventy-six.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hello again,
I’m unfamiliar with your work. Would you be willing to contact me via LinkedIn (http://nlb.pub/LinkedIn) or Facebook (http://nlb.pub/Facebook) so can continue this conversation?
LikeLiked by 3 people