About this book
Jane Edberg is a published author and internationally exhibited artist whose work explores personal transformation and healing. She recently collaborated with poet
John Brantingham in creating an illustrated poetry book that addresses isolation and observation in the quiet spaces of the COVID-19 pandemic titled My Dead, published by Kelsay Books in 2023. Jane was born in England but resides in the United States where she currently teaches writing and art at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California, Monterey Bay. She also serves as co-editor showcasing art and literature at The Journal of Radical Wonder.
Reviews
‘The Fine Art of Grieving is unique in the world of books. Its deep and brilliant exploration of loss and recovery is heightened in beauty and illumination by wondrous, accompanying photographs.’
— Marion Roach Smith, author of The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life
‘The Fine Art of Grieving is a strong brave book about the hell a person can go through and survive. I am deeply impressed and inspired by Jane Edberg’s writing and her actions and her determination and her art.’
— Abigail Thomas, author of Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing
‘The Fine Art of Grieving is a literary force that will change the way you look at grief, at art, and what it means to be human. Edberg’s depiction of the pain and despair of grief in equal balance with the exquisite beauty of showing up fully to the human experience is a stunning accomplishment. Jane Edberg is the writer that all of us weirdos have needed our whole lives.’
— Roxan McDonald, author of Spiritual AF Activity Book and Guided Journal, social media influencer @spiritual_af
‘Grief is not just an emotion, but a rupture in life that never fully heals and yet creates positive transformations. You can’t reason it away, and yet art can take it to a place where you can reflect on it in your heart. Jane Edberg shows you in beautiful language and visual art how to apply a healing alchemy when tragedy visits you. Reading her story may help you live through and beyond whatever challenges life offers you.’
— Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, and Soul Therapy
‘Jane’s approach to processing grief, both through her art and writing, is beautiful and harrowing. The rawness of emotion and the intentionality of how this story is told provides the reader a unique experience that all stories of grief should strive for: a chance for us to sit with sadness that also confronts the strangely personal ways grief consumes us.’
— Nathan Shuherk, BookTok – social media influencer @schitzophrenicreads
‘With shocking courage and creativity, Edberg unveils the power of grief to transform life. Shaman, artist, drowning woman, moon-hostage, pyromaniac, unlikely Viking priestess: she reveals every last bit of her participatory magic to teach us the mercy of grief.’
— Shelly Eyre Graham, PhD, Clinical Psychologist & Author
‘The Fine Art of Grieving is the most honest, profound, beautifully written, and shockingly illustrated account of the grieving process I’ve ever witnessed. Absolutely brilliant! I cannot find the words to match this artist’s, mother’s riveting memoir. I have served fifty years researching and writing about the arts and humanities to promote death education for medical personnel and the general public. Jane’s memoir says so much more about grief than all my “colleague experts.” Even for the most experienced therapists among us, her memoir should be required reading for professionals in the field of dying, death, and bereavement. More importantly, her book is a must read for anyone, as we will all, at some point, experience traumatic loss and grief. Jane’s words and images offer us hope as she leads us through a transformative healing process.’
— Sandra Bertman, PhD, Fellow in Thanatology, author of Facing Death: images, Insights, and Interventions; Grief and the Healing Arts: Creativity as Therapy.
