ABOUT OUR BOOK
Making Space for the Light embodies the belief that our stories, when written and shared, have the power not only to shift what we understand as possible, but to transform what is in fact possible. As Pat Schneider wrote in How the Light Gets In, “When we write, we create, and when we offer our creation to one another, we close the wound of loneliness and may participate in healing the broken world.”
This anthology gathers the voices of survivors who have lived through sexual and gender-based violence and have transformed their truths into language. Their words bring to light what has too often been forced into darkness and silence, tracing what was broken and moving toward reclamation and repair. In her essay “We Are the Words,” contributor Leslie Timmins writes, “To be silent, to ‘forget’ one’s own history is a theft, a soul robbery.”
Across its four sections—The Fracture, Struggling in the Shadows, Reckoning & Repair, and Emerging into the Light—the book traces a geography from silence toward truth. The survivors whose work fills these pages speak in conversation with one another and into a shared community of belonging. Their writing insists on recognition, revealing the fractures, the failures to protect, and the traumatic imprints that linger in the aftermath of violence. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”
PROGRAM BOOK LAUNCH CELEBRATION & READINGS
WELCOME
CONTENT ADVISORY & RESOURCES
The readings from this book contains explicit descriptions and discussions of gender-based violence, sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, and murder, including violence against children. This material is disturbing and distressing.
Your well-being is important. If you need support during or after the event, support specialists are available on Rape Abuse & Incest Nation Network’s (RAINN’s) National Sexual Assault Hotline, which is available by phone at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or online at online.rainn.org in both English and Spanish (rainn.org/es). The chat also has a quick exit feature that provides immediate protection during its use. RAINN’s hotline services are open to anyone who needs support, and are free, confidential, anonymous and available 24/7. You are not alone.
DEDICATION
Our book and this event are dedicated to the memory of Keira Kagan, who was murdered on February 9, 2020 by her father in a predictable and preventable act of gender-based violence and coercive control. Keira was just four years old at the time of her murder. A violent offender, her father had unsupervised court-mandated access to Keira, despite clear and known warnings to the systems charged with her protection. The courts and child protective services knew the dangers he posed to Keira and failed to take the necessary actions that would have protected Keira and saved her life. With Keira’s murder, we are reminded of the ongoing and urgent need for education about the widespread dangers of gender-based violence, accountability from the systems charged with protection, and immediate action for all who seek safety and refuge, especially our most vulnerable.
NO MORE EXCUSES. NO MORE INDIFFERENCE. NO MORE FAILURES.
NO MORE DEAD GIRLS.
READINGS
Why We Created This Book - Mary Simmerling, Suzy Boylan, Denise Huskins Quinn, & Sweetgrass Lodge (Jen Murphy)
Part I: The Fracture: Descending into Darkness
Act I, Viola Tian
July 4, 1987, Mary Simmerling
Valentine’s Day, Sarah
The Table, Pennie Nichols
dutiful, Shannon Malloy
The Blanket, Wendy Jensen
Casting Off, Mari Maxwell
Sheer Virtue, Belinda J. Kein
Pashtun Marriage Contract, Laura Sheahen
Absolute Rule, Micky Shorr
Part II: Struggling in the Shadows
Self Defense Class, Julianna Notten
None of it was my decision, Jenny Jennings
Believe Me, Gracelyn McGhee (read by Denise Huskins Quinn)
Unreliable Narrator, Julianna Notten
NEVER BEEN RAPED BUT, Natasha Sanders-Kay
A Gift for Dialog, Julianna Notten
FAN EXPO, Natasha Sanders-Kay
She Said / She Said / She Said, Elizabeth Wolf
Part III: Reckoning & Repair
In Plain Sight, Mary Simmerling
You Are Not, Mayda Henry
On Fire, Kendra Zen
Cracks of Gold, Anna Milne
Folding Laundry on a Tuesday, Becky Perkins
What Made You Think?, Roxanna Gumiela
Reclaimation, Donna Zucker
PEACOCK, Natasha Sanders-Kay
When I Say Me, Mary Simmerling
Part IV: Emerging into the Light
Go Save Mom, Susan Gelber
Tu Mano, Melissa Lombardo
We are Safe, Eva Fiallos-Diaz
November Stroll, Connie Post
Mercy, Leslie Timmins
Forgiving Myself, Becky Perkins
(This Is) A Prayer, J.N. Levine
Watching the Cliff Swallows, Mary Simmerling
Justice Like a River, Sweetgrass Lodge (Jen Murphy)
Closing – Thank You & 2026 Exhibits & Readings
READER BIOGRAPHIES
Suzy Boylan, J.D. served for twenty-five years as a prosecutor in Missoula, Montana, helping to build the community’s coordinated response and contributing to major reforms following a Department of Justice investigation. That work included authoring Montana’s statutory definition of consent, co-developing a statewide sexual assault manual and two-day training, and leading the Special Victims Unit. She has mentored students and new lawyers and trained hundreds of professionals. Now retired from the courtroom, she trains and consults on trauma-informed, victim-centered practices.
Eva Fiallos-Diaz is a community healer based in Tallahassee, Florida, on unceded Apalachee and Mvskoke-Creek land. Born in Madrid, Spain, to mixed Galician and Cuban heritage, Eva has embraced their multicultural identity throughout their life. Since adolescence, they have utilized creative expression, particularly poetry, as a powerful tool for healing and connection. Through their work, Eva fosters community resilience and advocates for the transformative power of art.
Susan Gelber, CHP attended the Pacific Academy of Homeopathic Medicine in San Francisco, California from 1992 to 1995. She enjoyed twenty years as the owner of The Homeopathic Alternative, a family healthcare practice in downtown Davis. Susan is nationally board-certified and among the first classical homeopaths to be licensed in the USA. She trained in Brainspotting with psychotherapist David Grand, Ph.D. while providing end-of-life care to her husband during the pandemic. Through a series of homeopathic home hospice experiences, Susan subsequently became certified as a Sacred Pet Death Doula and also as a Practitioner and Teacher of the Let Animals Lead® method of Animal Reiki. Susan serves both humans and their animal companions through a telehealth practice. Susan is an e-learning student of Ewald Stöteler. Her most meaningful writing communities have been Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s Tuesday Circle (2024–2026) and as a SoulCollage® Facilitator trained by Seena Frost in 2004.
Roxanna Gumiela is a wife, mother, and grandmother. She and her spouse reside in Oshawa, Ontario with their two fur babies: a husky—Tigger; and a black tabby—Texas. In her semi-retirement Roxanna teaches and practices trauma-informed yoga, as well as writing poetry and creative non-fiction, which focuses on her experience of trauma and how yoga has supported her healing.
Mayda Henry had a childhood dream to be a marine biologist. Childhood trauma changed that trajectory toward social work. After twenty-five years in mental health services, she is now a writing coach for graduate students. Mayda is a life-long private poet, guided by her love of science and nature. Her first published poem at the age of seventy-one appears in the second anthology in this series, We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence.
Jennifer Jennings is a California native now living in New Jersey with her husband and young son. She holds a BA in Psychology and has spent her career working at in-patient facilities and as a direct care provider in assisted living homes. She finds peace in helping others. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, crochet, and swimming in the ocean.
Wendy Thacher Jensen speaks from hard-won experience as she works through the pages of her past. She has authored three books on veterinary homeopathy as well as a novel, But I Already Said Goodbye, illustrating the close link between domestic violence and animal abuse. Her poetry has appeared in the online journals The Tiny Seed and Text, Power, Telling, as well as Zero Abuse Project’s website SurvivorSpace.
Belinda J. Kein is an expat New Yorker who resides in San Diego, California. Her work has appeared in Yellow Arrow Journal, The Belmont Story Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Vestal Review, The Fourth River, The Razor, Mom Egg Review, The New York Times, and We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence. She holds an MA in English from San Diego State University and an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte.
J.N. Levine is a writer, artist, and activist currently residing in Northern Colorado. With an educational background in Human Services & a Masters in Forensic Behavioral Science, she strives to educate and empower others through her role as a victim advocate at her local rape crisis center. When not writing, they can be found drinking excessive amounts of coffee, dancing, or exploring the outdoors with their toddler. This is her first published work.
Melissa B. Lombardo is a survivor, thriver, sexual assault crisis advocate, trauma-informed author and speaker, and founder of Write, Heal, Thrive®. She credits her love of writing as the guiding force that helped her reclaim her voice and move forward after traumatic lived experiences. Melissa is on a journey of continued healing and encourages others to do the same. To learn more about Melissa and her work, please visit melissablombardo.com.
Shannon Malloy is a neurodivergent crip poet from Denver, Colorado. Catastrophic injuries, which include dislocating her skull, left her temporarily silenced and with a TBI. She battled and slayed unfathomable beasts to embody her voice again. She was the 2024 Lighthouse Writers New Voices Fellow. Her poetry can be found or is forthcoming in Fatal Flaw, We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence, and All the Lives We’ve Lived, vol 5 and 6. Shannon writes under the supervision of her always-trying-to-steal-the-keyboard pups, Gertie Stein and Fanny Howl. Substack @shannonmalloy
Mari Maxwell writes poetry, fiction, flash and creative non-fiction. Her work features online and in print in Ireland, the USA, the UK, Australia, Brazil, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming. She is working on a hybrid fictionalised memoir on domestic violence and elder abuse. She received a bursary from Mayo County Council in March 2025, an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2023, and a Professional Development Award in 2020–2021.
Gracelyn McGhee is a floral designer and advocate who uses writing as a tool for healing. Throughout her court case, and during the period in which she was being groomed and assaulted, she journaled nearly everything, turning to language as a lifeline. A survivor of sexual abuse by law enforcement, she successfully fought to change Pennsylvania law so that no other child would see a mandated reporter walk free under protections that once shielded her perpetrator from justice.
Pennie A. Nichols, Ph.D. is a Louisiana-based author of literary fiction whose novels and stories explore the intersections of identity, community, and connection. Pennie is passionate about fostering safe spaces for creative expression. Alongside her own writing, she facilitates in-person workshops, meetups, and retreats that help writers tap into their creative flow. Pennie has plans to expand her offerings to virtual platforms in 2026.
Julianna Notten is a Toronto-based, award-winning, queer filmmaker and writer. Her work includes the shorts “Earth To Avery” (16), “Erin’s Guide To Kissing Girls” (18), “Fresh Blood” (21), and Progeny (25). Her debut feature, “Erin’s Guide To Kissing Girls,” premiered in 2022, receiving rave reviews and critical acclaim. Notten’s poetry can also be found in the anthology We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence.
Becky Perkins is a victim advocate from Ohio who serves as Director of Survivor Resiliency at Zero Abuse Project, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending child sexual abuse. Inspired by the courage, strength, and wisdom of survivors she has encountered throughout her career, Becky now utilizes her love of writing to share her own experience of surviving and overcoming sexual violence.
Connie Post is a poet whose work has appeared in Calyx, Slipstream, Comstock Review, 2 River, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review, Spillway, and Verse Daily. Her poetry awards include the Liakoura Award and Crab Creek Poetry Award. Her full-length collections include Floodwater, Prime Meridian, and Between Twilight, which have earned several book awards. Her 2023 chapbook, Broken Metronome, won the American Fiction award and the NYC Big Book Award for a poetry chapbook.
Denise Huskins Quinn, D.P.T. is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, author, keynote speaker, advocate and survivor of a kidnapping and sexual assault case in March 2015 where she and her now husband, Aaron Quinn, were falsely accused by law enforcement of committing a hoax. The real perpetrator was caught for attacking another family months later, and only then was the truth revealed. She and Aaron wrote the book Victim F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors with Nicki Weisensee Egan, and participated in a record breaking Netflix docuseries, American Nightmare, to highlight the systemic issues of confirmation bias, misrepresentation in the media, rush to judgement, and victim blaming that all too many survivors face.
Anna M. Robinett is a Tucson-based writer and artist whose expressive, metaphor-rich work explores healing and transformation. She creates art using all-natural earth pigments with organic walnut oil, as well as charcoal and graphite, reflecting her commitment to integrity, health, and environmental harmony. Inspired by her healing journey and the community that helped her rediscover her voice, her creative practice is a way she transforms pain into purpose, connection, and belonging.
Natasha Sanders-Kay writes from the stolen lands of the hənqəminnəm and Sk xwú7mesh speaking peoples. She is author of the chapbook poem “Postmodern Mutt” (Light Factory Publications). Other work has appeared in Women and Environments International, Petal Projections, Arc Poetry, EVENT, The New Quarterly, and other journals. Natasha was longlisted for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize, and received an honourable mention in the 2022 Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize competition.
Sarah is a medical doctor working in remote Australia. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Medical Humanities and works predominantly with under-represented and marginalised communities. Proudly from a working-class family and a victim-survivor herself, she seeks to bridge science and the arts, amplify unheard voices, and foster deep listening within the medical community.
Laura Sheahen is an American writer. Working overseas for charities, she has interviewed GBV survivors in Pakistan, Nepal, Eastern Europe, Sri Lanka, and many other countries. Her poem “Pashtun Marriage Contract,” based on her talk with an Afghan refugee woman, is reprinted here from the anthology Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution.
Micky Shorr is a school social worker and psychotherapist, now retired after a rewarding career supporting children and their families. After living for many years in New York’s Hudson Valley, Micky relocated back to Brooklyn, where she misses her garden, but treasures the opportunity to be a hands-on grandmother for her grandson. Micky’s poems have been published in a variety of literary journals and anthologies, including We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence, and in her chapbook My Concern: A Poetic Memoir.
Mary Simmerling, Ph.D. is a poet, philosopher, visual artist, and social justice practitioner. A survivor of sexual violence, she is the founder of Write Where We Belong, an independent Canadian literary and arts organization and press that centres survivor voices and leverages writing and visual arts as tools for social justice, violence prevention, and healing. Through Write Where We Belong, Mary has created “an artists’ ecosystem for change” through which she curates What Were You Wearing? art installation exhibits documenting gender-based violence and institutional failure, curates, edits, and publishes books on the lived experiences of trauma and grief, and leads survivors’ voices writing workshops. She is the curator and editor of the survivor anthologies We’ve Been Put Through Fire & Come Out Divine and We’ve Got Some Things to Say: Reshaping Narratives Around Sexual Violence. Mary holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and an MA in Adlerian Psychology.
Viola Tian is a Toronto-based poet, storyteller, and policy leader. A first-generation Chinese-Korean immigrant, she navigates cultural displacement while amplifying the immigrant experience. Her writing unveils the raw realities of gender, race, and power—where love, grief, and loss intersect with cultural expectations and self-reclamation. Through poetry, she captures the turbulence of navigating two worlds, the weight of heartbreak and healing, and the vulnerabilities of womanhood and relationships.
Leslie Timmins is the author of the poetry collection Every Shameless Ray (Inanna, 2018). Her work has been shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize and the Poet Laureate’s City Poem Contest Prize. Recent poems appear in the anthology Worth More Standing (Caitlin Press, 2022), Literary Review of Canada (2024), and forthcoming in Prairie Fire. Leslie writes for the Women Refugees Advocacy Project.
Wiingashk Wâhkôôm “Sweetgrass Lodge” (Government name: Jen Murphy) is an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Nation of Rocky Boy, Montana, and brings a powerful cultural and systemic perspective to Building Blue’s work. She holds a degree in Communications and a Master’s Certificate in Native American Studies, and has spent her career working in child protection, adult parole, and Indigenous advocacy. Jen began her career as a Child Protection Specialist, later serving as an ICWA Expert for the State of Montana. She went on to work in Adult Felony Parole, gaining hands-on experience in rehabilitation, accountability, and public safety. A passionate advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIW/P), Jen leads Tveraa Photography, a project that brings visibility to MMIW/P through a national photo series of Native women featured on billboards across the country. The project has been showcased on NBC’s Today Show and CBS’s 48 Hours, and inspired her award-winning short film “Not Afraid,” which she executive produced. Jen serves by appointment of the Montana Attorney General on both the Native American Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission and the State Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission.
Elizabeth S. Wolf has published six books of poetry. Did You Know? was a 2018 Rattle Chapbook. Rattle Summer 2022 featured her project with Prisoner Express. In 2023 Elizabeth taped readings at the White House, Supreme Court, and U.S. Capitol with The Scheherazade Project. Her video “April 1999” screened at the Poetry in Motion Festival 2024. Her work landed on the moon with the Lunar Codex. Elizabeth lives in Massachusetts.
Kendra Zen is a Memphis-based visual artist, filmmaker, poet, and writer. A disabled social justice practitioner, her work is grounded in creating pathways to safety and community. She is dedicated to supporting unhoused people and to caring for animals who have been abandoned, centering dignity, connection, and a steadfast commitment to collective well-being.
Donna Zucker is a writer and professor based in Sag Harbor, New York. She began her career in magazine journalism working with Condé Nast and Scholastic, and spent a decade writing consumer health and medical content at Time Inc. Her work has appeared in books, literary journals, and on the radio. The recipient of a Whitely Center Fellowship, she holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and currently teaches at Pace University.
