All That Could Be Lost: Sydney & Canberra
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
On 20 June, All That Could Be Lost, Melanie Jansen’s debut poetry collection, will be formally launched by eminent poet and 5Islands Press Managing Editor, Mark Tredinnick, at the beautiful Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf. We invite you to join us for an evening of poetry and conversation.
Imagine a child is fighting for life in intensive care. Imagine that you need to decide how--and sometimes whether--to treat that child. Imagine how it feels to tell the parents the crisis is over. Imagine how it feels to tell them the child has died.
Dr Melanie Jansen is a paediatric intensive care specialist and a medical ethicist. Many of the poems in her book record her efforts to make sense of her challenging but profoundly rewarding work, telling stories of the miraculous, of heart-breaking tragedy, and of moments of hope and wonder in the middle of crisis; and they probe, through these experiences, profound philosophical questions.
But there is also a life to be lived beyond the hospital. All That Could Be Lost examines this life, too, with honesty, intelligence and rigour, reaching into into the depths of her personal pain and loss, tracing how the close company she keeps with the crises and griefs of others affects her own experiences of grief; and celebrating, with an unabashed joy, the experience of found love, and of motherhood.
This is a ticketed event, so please register. Entry to the event is free, but you will be offered the option of a paid ticket which will includes a signed copy of the book at a small discount to the regular retail price.
If you can't make it to this event, all is not lost. Melanie will be in conversation with mental health specialist and poet Dr Joo-Inn Chew at Paperchain Bookstore in Canberra on 4 June.
You can register for this event on the link below.
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