I’m so pleased to welcome Kathie Giorgio back onto the blog following her interview in May 2023 with her “Hope Always Rises Book Tour”. Read the interview HERE. This time Kathie’s book tour is a powerful collection of 29 poems – The Birth Of A Widow – written during the first year as a widow. The poems are very emotional alternating between utter sadness, loneliness, through to being angry and recollecting moments that she and her husband shared. Here’s a quick book summary before I reintroduce Kathie….
BOOK SUMMARY
Sixty-six days after Kathie Giorgio’s husband was killed when he was struck and run over by a passenger van while walking to his bus stop, Kathie’s grief broke out unbidden into poetry. For the year after his death, she wrote the poems as they arrived. An intimate study of traumatic loss, Giorgio exposes the full depth of grief’s sadness, anger, and confusion.
Publisher: Kelsay Books (Feb. 24, 2026)
AISN: B0GQ45W871
ISBN-13: 979-8901467190
Print Length: 88 pages
Purchase your copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. You’ll also want to add it to your GoodReads reading list.
THE INTERVIEW
Hello again, Kathie – it’s wonderful to have you back on the blog! please reintroduce yourself:
Hello, I’m Kathie Giorgio, both the author Kathie Giorgio, and the director and founder of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC. As soon as I could hold a pencil or a pen, I was writing. I’m told I used to use carbon paper (I’ve just aged myself) to copy the pictures in my picture books, and then I would rewrite the stories the way I felt they should be written. I was told by my 5th grade teacher that I was a writer, and it just felt so exactly right. So that’s who I am. If I’m not writing, I’m editing. If I’m not editing, I’m teaching. If I’m not teaching, I’m advocating. My favorite genre is literary fiction, particularly the short story, but the novel too. But I also write essays and poetry.
“The Birth Of A Widow” is definitely a powerful collection of 29 poems written during your first year of a widow – what made you decide to write down your story of your first year as a widow via poetry?
I really didn’t make a conscious decision to write about the experience with Michael, or to write it in poetry. 66 days after my husband died, I fled to the Oregon coast, a place I go when I truly need a break from the world. I expected to be working on a new novel there (and I did – it comes out next year), but I kept having lines appear in my mind. When I wrote them down, the rest of the poem just fell out, followed by other poems. And it continued. I decided to give in to them…any writer will know what I mean by that. But I never sat down purposely to write a poem. I didn’t write poems on the variety of special days, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. I just wrote when the lines came to me, which is why each poem in the book is dated. I did make a firm decision that the last poem I would write would be on the first anniversary of Michael’s death. But even that wasn’t under my control; I couldn’t write on that day. Instead, I woke up on the morning after with a poem in my head. I’ve also continued to write them in this second year, but they don’t come as often as they did.
Your poems highlighted for me how hard life is adjusting to life as a widow; the various emotions that you have experienced and continue to experience as you grieve – the anger, the sadness, the bewilderment, the love you shared, the memories, …. Did you find writing the poems therapeutic?
I did find writing the poems to be therapeutic and cathartic. They allowed me to put the memories into a lovely form, and once I put them on paper, I was able to let them go.
You are no stranger to writing novels and poetry collections, but were there any aspects of writing this book or curating this poetry collection, that surprised you, either by being harder or easier to relate than you expected?
This whole collection, from the first poem on, surprised me. As I said, I wasn’t expecting to write it. Emotionally, it was much harder than writing fiction, or even essays. I used to scoff at the Hemingway quote, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Writing is hard, hard work, but I never felt like I was bleeding until I wrote these poems.
I do so love your writing style. The honesty and rawness really shone through in these poems. “The Missing Hour”… that was the one that really stood out for me. From a creative writing instructor point of view, do you feel that poetry harnesses raw emotion and reality better than a novel based on a real event/experience?
I do think that poetry harnesses raw emotion and reality. But I also think well-written fiction and memoir can do the same thing. It’s all in the word choice, and it’s all in the honesty that you put on the page. Honesty and truth-telling are big hallmarks for me, no matter what I’m writing.
Is “The Birth Of A Widow” available to purchase worldwide?
Yes, the book is available worldwide. It can be ordered direct from the publisher, Kelsay Books, or it can be purchased through independent bookstores, or Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
In my previous interview with you in May 2023, you mentioned that you would like to visit London – and Big Ben. Is that still on your bucket list ?
Big Ben is still on my bucket list! Michael and I were supposed to be going on a cruise to London and Paris for our 25th anniversary in 2024. But his accident happened in January and he died in June. I canceled the cruise soon after the accident, because it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to handle it. When he died, I rescheduled the trip for the summer of 2025, but then I just couldn’t handle going without him. I booked it again for this coming summer, but I’ve already canceled it. I will get there when I’m ready.
Personal now – what outfits and shoes would you normally be found wearing?
I am my most happy and comfortable in leggings paired with long sweaters, tunics or t-shirts. I love bright colors and patterns. If I’m getting dressed up, I’m likely in boots. If I’m casual, I’m in sneakers. I’ll include a photo from the launch of The Birth Of A Widow, so you can see what I mean.
Do you have any favourite shops or online sites ?
I love Torrid and Lane Bryant. Online, I like ThredUp. But my favorite is thrifting. I’ve found the best stuff at Goodwill, St. Vinnie’s, and Facebook Marketplace.
What’s next on your clothes/shoe wish list?
Next on my clothes/shoes list: Well, I just contacted someone who is selling an absolutely stunning and outrageous pink and orange blazer, with a matching sleeveless shirt beneath. I was instantly smitten. Pink and orange! And it works!!!
Boots or Shoes?
Can I say both? It’s always boots or sneakers for me. Boots, usually up to the knee or over the knee, and sneakers are always Skechers.
Links you would like to share e.g. website/facebook etc
Author website: www.kathiegiorgio.org
Studio website: www.allwritersworkshop.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathie.giorgio.5 (I also have a Facebook author page – just search for Author Kathie Giorgio)
Instagram: @kathiegio1
X: @kathiegiorgio
BOOK TOUR DATES
Lovely to chat to you again, Kathie. Take care and thank you for a copy of The Birth Of A Widow and for having me on your book tour.
Linda x
All photographs have been published with the kind permission of Kathie Giorgio
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