Letter from the Publisher: In the Absence of the Ordinary
Categories: New Release Letter from the Publisher
Talking with Francis reminded me that wolves in fact live in packs, and that while solitude is sometimes necessary to process sorrow, true healing most often comes from turning toward community in times of pain.
It’s fair to say that interviewing Francis Weller ten years ago changed my life.
I was newly working at North Atlantic Books after seven years at The Sun magazine. Knowing Sun readers and their penchant for the understory of life, I knew they would resonate with Weller’s revelatory views on grief enshrined in his then-new book, The Wild Edge of Sorrow, which North Atlantic Books was publishing. Readers of The Sun are legion (about 70,000 folks at that time), and take their monthly reading very seriously. In my years working at the magazine, dozens of readers told me that they read every word in it—sometimes twice.
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief came out in September 2015 to a solid reception. When The Sun interview reached readers in late October, sales saw an immediate lift, one that has never really let up—the book has sold more than 225,000 copies in its lifetime and been translated into eight languages. It has been a key ballast for our publishing house and a balm to many. The interview remains one of The Sun’s most-read features on its website, which is impressive considering the magazine’s 50-year archive.
But the interview changed my life most significantly on a personal level. Like every human, I have dealt with my fair share of grief and loss. Until Francis’s book and our conversation, however, I had never really examined how I metabolize, or don’t metabolize, loss. I had never learned from my community, my family, or my culture how to navigate the cartography of grief—particularly from men. I remember an evening at my grandparents’ house when I was nine: my grandparents, my uncle, and I were eating dinner when the phone rang. My grandmother answered the call and learned from her sister that her brother had died. We all loved him so much. My grandfather and uncle immediately retreated to separate corners of the house, leaving my grandmother to hold the space for herself and her young grandson struggling to take this in. I learned early on from the men in my life to tough sorrow out, alone.
When I got older and found a partner and had a child, I learned to hold grief more openly, but the lone wolf is a tenacious creature. My first response to trouble is to sequester. Talking with Francis reminded me that wolves in fact live in packs, and that while solitude is sometimes necessary to process sorrow, true healing most often comes from turning toward community in times of pain.
A few years later, in 2020, Francis began publishing a series of essays on his website about the relevance of grief in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the California wildfires. I loved the essays, and we thought about racing to publish them in book form. But as a publisher we focus more on the long now than the immediate moment, so Francis self-published the initial essays as an ebook. It sold 1,000 copies in less than two weeks. I was happy the medicine got delivered with the urgency required.
Four years later, several of my colleagues and I were talking about Francis, and I wondered aloud if his collection of essays had ever morphed over time. Sure enough, when I asked Francis about it, he told me that his collection was doing just that, and that he’d be interested in further widening it out.
And that’s exactly what he did. In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty comes out from North Atlantic Books this week, and I am certain it will reach in and envelop people’s hearts. Written not just for this specific moment but for the larger, acute, intersecting crises we face, the book initiates us into the ways we will have to reckon with overwhelm, responsibility, and grief if we are to make it through these times intact.
Fittingly, Francis’s new book comes out on the 10th anniversary of The Wild Edge of Sorrow, which, by the way, has a very beautiful new hardcover edition also hitting stores this week.
A few days ago, my partner, son, and I walked down to our local Oakland city park to join neighbors gathering to coordinate a local response to ICE’s harassment and kidnapping of our brethren. I felt heavy that morning, leaning inward, but then we arrived to a beautiful scene: hundreds of citizens of all hues and ages getting organized—heartbroken and fired up to see what forces we could galvanize together.
As Francis reminds us, “We are not bereft. We are not alone. We are part of this dreaming Earth.” As the world teeters on its axis, it can be hard to remember that finding strength in our shared sorrow is a necessary part of reconstituting the world. May we all become a little more human in the process.
—Tim McKee, publisher of North Atlantic Books
In the Absence of the Ordinary
A collection of 17 soulful essays on meeting this moment with clarity, care, and skill. In each essay, Francis Weller fortifies us to become immense—to meet these unpredictable times with presence and faith, to restore our souls’ place in the soul of the world, and to hold steady, amid and for it all.
»Out Now«
The Wild Edge of Sorrow
Francis Weller introduces the 5 gates of grief, helping us come to terms with grief and loss within a culture so fundamentally detached from the needs of the soul. With grief rituals, reflection prompts, and deep, ageless wisdom, The Wild Edge of Sorrow is a genre-defining invitation to healing and renewal.
“One of the best books on grief I have ever read.” —Anderson Cooper
»Out Now«
About the Author
Tim McKee
Tim came to NAB in 2013 and is honored to serve as publisher. Born in New York City, McKee grew up in Los Angeles and received a BA from Princeton University and an MA in journalism from the University of Missouri. He has worked in the nonprofit sector for his entire career, including serving as the long-time managing editor of The Sun magazine, the grants director for a social-justice foundation in San Francisco, and as a writer for several community-based organizations in California. He has also taught college-level writing and journalism. His book No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa (Dorling Kindersley) was an Honor Book for the Jane Addams Book Award and a Los Angeles Times bestseller. He is happiest when bringing necessary stories to the page.
