Wonder and Loss - by Sam Meekings (Paperback)

About the Book

Interweaving the author's personal journey through grief with a guide on how to write about it, this book is both Sam Meeking's raw account of the death of his younger brother and a step-by-step breakdown of the memoir writing process.

Book Synopsis

A braided memoir that interweaves the author's personal journey through grief with a guide on how to write about it, this book is both Sam Meekings' raw account of the death of his younger brother and a step-by-step breakdown of the memoir writing process. With a twin focus on how to heal and preserve precious memories whilst exploring the mechanics of writing about the self, Wonder and Loss uses personal story, writing theories, useful strategies and detailed prompts to invite the reader to write alongside Sam on a path that is both painful and profound.

One of the most straightforward approaches to writing memoir put to page, Sam Meekings breaks down the craft of personal narrative into understandable steps and considerations, and provides a sequence of actions and suggestions that are both practical and motivating. Allowing readers to take control of their own stories, this book shares references to related works as well as new theories from the worlds of neuroscience, neurology, psychology and creative writing, translating them into processes writers can use to remember those lost and to rediscover themselves. Compellingly honest and an introspective look at the transformation through grief and loss as it's written, readers will learn to both honour and record the memories of those they mourn, and to rediscover the person they are and can be.

Review Quotes

"There are many powerful grief memoirs and even more books about the craft of writing, but Wonder & Loss is the first book to help readers as they struggle with grief and write their own stories about love and loss. Sam Meekings shows, in fascinating detail, that the story of his younger brother's early death is different from writing the story itself. Both stories are hauntingly brought to life in this beautifully written and memorable book." --Jeffrey Berman, Distinguished Teaching Professor, University at Albany, SUNY, USA

About the Author

Sam Meekings is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern University in Qatar. He is the author of Under Fishbone Clouds (2011, called 'a poetic evocation of the country and its people' by the New York Times), The Book of Crows (2012), and The Afterlives of Dr Gachet (2018). He has a PhD in creative writing from Lancaster University, UK, and has taught writing at NYU (Global Campus) and the University of Chichester, UK. He is co-editor of the volumes The Place and the Writer (2021), The Scholarship of Creative Writing (2024) and The Creative Writing Workshop in the 21st Century (2026), all with Bloomsbury Academic. He researches the intersections of trauma and narrative, and the practices and processes of digital storytelling.