Description
Fiction. OVER OUR HEADS weaves together the histories of two very different half-sisters who return home to deal with the aftermath of their grandmother's death. Emma, a punk band singer and poet turned pet psychic, and Rachel, an actuary with an interest in astronomy, both carry the remnants of childhoods overshadowed by issues of bullying, abandonment, alienation and fear. In the raw terrain of profound loss, the two sisters struggle through the stages of grief, each in her own way. The past merges with the present as the process of emptying the family home takes each woman back to her childhood in 1970s Toronto and Vancouver, in a social climate rife with racism, homophobia and marginalization of the mentally ill and cognitively disabled. OVER OUR HEADS is a story about kindness, compassion—and their lack. It's about growing up wounded, and the generational legacy of suffering such wounds can create, and it's a story of acceptance, forgiveness, redemption, and the beauty that can be found in the imperfection inherent in being human.
Author Bio
Andrea Thompson is one of the most well known poets in the Canadian spoken word scene and has performed her poetry at venues across North America and overseas for the past twenty years. Thompson's debut poetry collection, Eating the Seed (2000), has been featured on the reading list at the University of Toronto, and at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and her spoken word cd One, was nominated for a Canadian Urban Music Award in 2005. One of the pioneers of the slam poetry scene in Canada, Thompson was awarded the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word's Poet of Honour: For Outstanding Achievement in the Art of Spoken Word in 2009. Thompson is the co-editor of the anthology OTHER TONGUES: MIXED RACE WOMEN SPEAK OUT (Inanna, 2010), and is a recent graduate of the University of Guelph's MFA Creative Writing program. She currently teaches Spoken Word: Poetry and Performance through the Ontario College of Art and Design's Continuing Studies Department. OVER OUR HEADS (Inanna Publications, 2014) is her first novel. Andrea lives in Toronto.
Author City: TORONTO, ON CAN