📣 Book Tour with Guest Post & Giveaway ➱ The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems by Author Kathie Giorgio

 WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR

of

The Birth of a Widow

By Kathie Giorgio

Tour Begins June 1

 

Book Summary

The Birth of a Widow is an utterly shattering portrait of the sudden loss of a husband and a shared life that will speak to anyone who has ever loved or lost a loved one. In these poems of electric honesty, Giorgio explores how she struggles to survive her first year as a widow, using all her wisdom, humor, anger, to cross the vast sea of grief to the other shore, bringing us—wiser, too—along with her.

—Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of I Want To Tell You

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 a copy of  Murder Under Redwood Moon

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Widow-Collected-Poems/dp/B0GQ45W871

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-birth-of-a-widow-kathie-giorgio/1149562901

Booshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-birth-of-a-widow-collected-poems-kathie-giorgio/359235e5053bf4b0

You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249027194-the-birth-of-a-widow

Guest Post:

Poetry Is Like A Postcard

Kathie Giorgio

I’ve heard book-length fiction and nonfiction often referred to as a marathon, and a short story or essay as a sprint. I’ve written fiction for a long time, both the short story and the novel, and so I’ve run the 50-yard dash and a 5K, in the literary world. I’ve experienced the same with memoir, mostly with the essay, but I’ve also done book-length memoir. 

And poetry. I’ve also written poetry. Six books worth! But each poem is short. 

So what’s poetry then?

A postcard. I couldn’t think of a running analogy for poetry, because most poems simply don’t last long enough. 

Despite that lack of length, poetry tends to leave an image in the reader’s mind. A book will have you picturing a character’s life, with several different scenes and transformations. A poem…just one picture.

Just like the picture on the front of a postcard!

When I used to lead creative writing camps for children, I would spend one evening with a pile of cardboard, cutting it out into small rectangles with the inside removed, so it looked like a frame. Each child received one. Then, we would venture out into nature. A nearby park, a historic downtown, a beach by a lake, or a picnic area by a river. I would instruct the kids to look straight ahead, choose a direction, and then take 10 giant steps in a straight line. Wherever they landed with that tenth step, they dropped their frames to the ground.

“And now,” I said, “write a poem about what is inside of your frame.”

They wrote the most amazing poems. About a blade of grass or a dandelion. A crack in the sidewalk. The remnants of a sand castle. A lost sock. Popcorn. We didn’t show the poems to each other, but instead, the kids and I would return to the classroom and everyone read theirs out loud. Then I’d ask the others to describe what they saw. 

These little framed postcard poems became bigger in the minds of the children, as they automatically added details from their own experiences. A poem about popcorn? For one child, that popcorn was white, from a bag purchased at the grocery store. Another said she could taste the butter, and she would lick her fingers as she sat in her seat at the movie theater. There was cheese popcorn and popcorn mixed with M&M’s (that was a weird one!). But every child had an image, and a strong connection, to every poem. Every child felt an impact.

A poem can do that. Just like a favorite postcard that we receive in the mail, that we pin to our bulletin board and leave there for years, smiling every time we catch sight of it. Because of what it represents. 

I encourage all of you, poets or not, to try this. Make a frame. Go outside. Capture a moment. Then write a poem.

About the Author, Kathie Giorgio

Kathie Giorgio is the author of seventeen traditionally published books: eight novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and five poetry collections. Her new novel, Unique In All The World, will be released in February 2027. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association and the Eric Hoffer prize for fiction, among others. 

Giorgio is also the founder and director of AllWriters’ Workplace &Workshop LLC, an international creative writing studio offering online and on-site courses and workshops for all genres and abilities, as well as coaching and editing services.

Find the author at:

Website: www.kathiegiorgio.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathie.giorgio.5

Instagram: @kathiegio1   https://www.instagram.com/kathiegio1/

Twitter/X: @kathiegiorgio   https://x.com/kathiegiorgio

Book Giveaway

Don’t miss out on your chance to win a copy of The Birth of a Widow. Enter at The Muffin from June 1 through June 14.

#BookTour #Giveaway #GuestPost #TheBirthofaWidow #CollectedPoems #Poetry #KathieGiorgio #WOW @kathiegio1 @wow_womenonwriting @kathiegiorgio @WomenonWriting

Blog Tour Calendar

June 1st @ The Muffin

Join us as we celebrate the launch of The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems by Kathie Giorgio. Read an interview with the author and enter to win!

https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com

June 3rd @ Word Magic

The spotlight is on The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems by Kathie Giorgio. Drop by & learn more.

https://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com

June 4th @ A Storybook World

Kathie Giorgio, author of The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems, tackles the challenge of honesty in writing on today's post.

https://www.astorybookworld.com/

June 6th @ Boots, Shoes and Fashion

Don't miss today's interview of Kathie Giorgio, a creative writing instructor and author of 17 books.

https://bootsshoesandfashion.com

June 7th @ Shoe's Seeds and Stories

Kathie Giorgio takes you behind the scenes of My Own Writing Retreat: Created, Directed and Thoroughly Enjoyed by Me. Don't miss a review of Kathie's latest book: The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems.

https://lschuelerca.wordpress.com/

June 8th @ A Wonderful World of Words

Kathie Giorgio, author of The Birth of a Widow, shares how Poetry is Like a Postcard.

https://awonderfulworldofwordsa.blogspot.com/

June 11th @ Words by Webb

Today Jodi writes abut the secret parts of grief we don't talk about as well as a review of The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems.

https://www.jodiwebbwriter.com/blog

June 16th @ Cozy Home Delights

Stop by for thoughts on Writing About Grief from Kathie Giorgio as well as a review of her latest poetry collection The Birth of a Widow.

https://cozyhomedelight.com/reviews

June 18th @ Boys' Mom Reads!

Learn about the latest by writer Kathie Giorgio: The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems.

https://karensiddall.wordpress.com

June 23rd @ Beverley A. Baird

Beverley shares a review of Kathie Giorgio's latest book: The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems.

https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com

June 23rd @ Tracey Lampley

Author Kathie Giorgio gives us a peek at the balancing act of Writing While Caretaking.

https://www.traceylampley.com/

June 25th @ Beverley A. Baird

Kathie Giorgio, author of The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems, is back with a guest post about the everchanging life of a writer in Everything Writer - Writing in Multiple Genres. 

https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com

June 30th @ World of My Imagination

End the month with a little poetry. Nicole shares a review of The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems by Kathie Giorgio.

https://worldofmyimagination.com/