Dear First name / One,

 

As you might know, in April, I was in the US to keynote at the Childless Collective Summit in Charleston (a clip of which is above). Many of you have asked if it was filmed, and I'm thrilled to say it was, and that passes to watch/read/listen to ALL the talks from both days of the conference are now on sale. A huge thank you to Katy Seppi for hosting the conference (a MASSIVE effort, and not a particularly remunerative one either, so if you are in a position to buy a pass for yourself, and perhaps also one to gift to a childless friend, I know it would help her a lot!) It was by far the most thoughtfully organised event I have ever been a part of and that stuff doesn't happen by accident. So once again, thank you to Katy. 

 

And so now this month, having got past Mother's Day, you'd have thought the pronatalist waters of social media might be safe to venture back into, but I'm afraid that in much of the world, it's Father's Day on June 16th! If this is a tough day for you, or anyone you care about, I'll be publishing a wonderful new essay by Robert Nurden (author of I Always Wanted to be a Dad) in the GW Journal on Father's Day, and you'll find previous year's Father's Day essays, and all the resources I'm aware of for childless men here. Because childless men grieve too. 

 

Also this month, two new, and very different memoirs are being published by childless authors, and I've had the privilege of reading and reviewing both of them. The first is Zoya's Gift: Building a Bridge to a Global Family by Gail McCormick (out 11th June); and the second is No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimers by Sue Fagalde Lick (out June 25th). More on those below, including a special live zoom interview I'll be doing with Sue on Saturday 29th June when there'll also be a chance to win a copy of her new book. 

 

Talking of Sue, who is a regular panelist on our Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen webinars, we have the June Solstice edition of that coming up on Wednesday 19th June and our topic is ‘Courageous Conversations’. (I'm rubbish at them, so I'm hoping to learn a lot!) More below and you can register free here to attend live and receive a copy of the recording the next day. 

 

Last month (May) saw the publication of Handbook for the Heartbroken by Sara Avant Stover, and as well as reviewing the book (see below) we did an InstagramLive together @GatewayWomen and you can watch the recording there (I've pinned it to the page). In it, we have a very frank and much needed conversation about something that's part of many childless women's experience (including mine) which is abortion. Although it's often hidden in the shadows, it's a common experience for many women, including mothers, and I'm so grateful to Sara for including this particular ‘heartbreak’ in her wonderful book.  

 

A quick heads up that if you're based in Australia/New Zealand, there are a couple of places left for the June 29/30 Reignite Weekend in Brisbane with childless therapists Sarah Roberts of The Empty Cradle and Judy Graham, founder of WomenHood Counselling. The testimonials from their weekends are so damn good they bring tears of gratitude to my eyes for the way they are leading my work and taking care of their participants. Please do check out our Reignite Weekends if you're curious; they've been changing childless lives for over a decade now, why not yours next?!

 

I better stop now… thought this would be a short newsletter; as usual, I was wrong!

 

After a break of a couple of years, I'm happy to announce that we have an Online Reignite Weekend now scheduled for this September, suitable for all in UK/EU timezones. This is in addition to the four remaining in-person weekends in Australia and the UK, including the first ever one in Perth (AUS) coming up in October. All details, fabulous testimonials, facilitator contacts and booking links here.