Let's Talk About: Grief with Paula Becker

Proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test is required.

Let's talk about our mental and emotional health! Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum and Companis initiate a series of community conversations to facilitate dialogue on mental health and emotional well being. Through these community conversations, Folio aims to connect people over shared experiences and provide a platform to facilitate difficult yet critical conversations. These conversations are free and open to all.

This March Folio is delighted to welcome author and historian Paula Becker for an in-person community conversation on Grief. Paula is the author of the memoir A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction, a finalist for the 2020 Washington State Book Award, and of the book Looking For Betty MacDonald: The Egg, The Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and I. Paula is also coauthor (with Alan J. Stein) of the books The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair and Its Legacy. More than three hundred of Paula's essays documenting all aspects of Washington's history appear on HistoryLink.org, the online encyclopedia of Washington State history, where she is a historian.

When her son was killed in 2017, she reached for grief books to help her navigate the enormous grief engulfing her. Most grief books are long, often too overwhelming for the shattered attention span that is a hallmark of fresh loss. With A Little Book of Self-Care for Those Who Grieve, Paula Becker offers grievers a quiet touchstone of care and advice that can be returned to again and again.

This beautiful book featuring simple, easy-to-absorb poetic text and comforting illustrations offers a gentle guide for surviving the early days of grief — shock, trauma, disbelief — and beyond. Anyone suffering a loss will see themselves and their grief reflected in these pages.

This program is presented in partnership with Companis. 

Companis works to make our community healthier, safer, and more just by fostering skilled volunteer service. We build relationships and bridge the gap so that nonprofits can succeed in delivering vital services with the help of a Companis worker.