Carolyn Brigit Flynn
Carolyn Brigit Flynn
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
New Essay "Sinead O'Connor: Universal Mother,"on Substack, August 2, 2023.
Essay "Walking In Space" in Catamaran Literary Reader, Spring 2021 issue.
Poetry and an essay in Second Wind: Words and Art of Hope and Resilience,
edited by Kate Aver Avraham and Melody Culver, November 2020.
Essays and poetry in trilogy, Pandemic Corona, Death: Deep Reflections, and Sacred Earth: Dreaming the Future, edited by Pamela Eakins, Ph.D., May, August and November 2020.
Essay "Safe Houses: Giving Refuge," Kosmos: Journal for Global Transformation, Spring 2020.
BOOKS
SACRED STONE, SACRED WATER reveals the soul of Ireland through the eyes of women writers and artists who accompanied Carolyn on a writing retreat and tour of Ireland in September 2016. In poems, essays, photographs and artwork, they captured their experience of the exquisite Irish landscape, transformative sacred sites, and the welcoming spirit of the Irish people.
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"Beautifully woven in image and word, this cornucopia is surely a jewel in the crown of Tír Ghrá (ancient Irish phrase which means “love of land”) literature.” - NOÍRÍN NÍ RIAIN, Listen with the Ear of the Heart
COMMUNION
In Praise of the Sacred Earth
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Poems by Carolyn Brigit Flynn
"The earth and its lives are grateful, I am sure, for a voice that so passionately takes their side."
— JANE HIRSCHFIELD, The Asking
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SISTERS SINGING
Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry & Sacred Stories by Women
Edited by Carolyn Brigit Flynn
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"I plan to keep Sisters Singing in arm’s reach for at least the next year.." -- MAYA ANGELOU, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing
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UPCOMING
The Light of Ordinary Days​
Video: Carolyn reads from her upcoming memoir, The Light of Ordinary Days.
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In 2013, exactly a century after her grandparents emigrated from Ireland to start a new life in America, Carolyn traveled to her ancestral homeland in the wake of a tragedy that had, for a time, broken her body and soul. The Light of Ordinary Days is the story of her journey across modern-day Ireland, but it is also an excavation of the silences and long-held family wounds haunting her family tree, set alongside her own spiritual and personal journey as a young lesbian finding her way in an Irish-Catholic world. At its root, this is a tale of healing--personal, familial, generational--and the incredible story of the gifted, lyrical island people from whom she comes.
BIO
Carolyn Brigit Flynn is a poet, author and writing teacher dedicated to language as a path to renewed life, soul and spirit.
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She is the author of the poetry collection Communion, and the editor of three literary anthologies, most recently Sacred Stone, Sacred Water, with writing and art from her 2016 writing retreat in Ireland.
As a popular teacher in Santa Cruz, California, her creative writing groups provide a powerful container for writers to generate new work from the depth of the soul, and to edit and complete their writing for a broad audience.
Carolyn lives near the ocean in California with her wife, the poet Jean Mahoney.
TEACHING
Carolyn has taught creative writing classes, writing groups and retreats and writing intensives called Writing to Feed the Soul for more than twenty-five years. The focus of her work is the innovative generation of new writing, as well as insightful editing and the development of new and ongoing writing projects.
Writers often find that a new voice emerges, and that their work goes deeper. In her writing classes, Carolyn brings people together in a unique atmosphere of witness: deep listening, insightful feedback, and an eye to the continued unfolding of the writer and the truest spirit of her work. She teaches in Santa Cruz, CA and in Ireland.
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Writing Retreats and Tours in Ireland
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NEXT IRELAND TOUR AND RETREAT upcoming in 2024
LANDSCAPE OF SOUL AND STORY
Many years ago Carolyn discovered a profound affiliation with the ancient places of Ireland.
She periodically brings groups of writers and artists to journey into the soul and spirit of Ireland through writing, art and storytelling.