“I know people who have had serious concussions. I’m familiar with a devastating range of symptoms. But those I know are not writers; those in this book are. They articulate that experience with bravery and insight; painfully, but personally. I know concussion specialists who are open-minded about how much they don’t know about concussion. This is a book for them. And for the rest of us too.”
– Jay Ingram, science writer and broadcaster
- Winner – 2022 Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year award, Book Publishers Association of Alberta
- Shortlisted – 2022 Book Cover Design award, Book Publishers Association of Alberta
In Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, 21 women writers consider the effects of concussion on their personal and professional lives. The anthology bears witness to the painstaking work that goes into redefining identity and regaining creative practice after a traumatic event. By sharing their complex, non-linear, and sometimes incomplete healing journeys, these women convey the magnitude of a disability which is often doubted, overlooked, and trivialized, in part because of its invisibility. Showcasing a diversity of women’s stories, Impact offers compassion and empathy to all readers and families healing from concussion and other types of trauma.
We are grateful to have received a grant from Canada Council for the Arts in support of this work. The support of Canada Council for the Arts means that our contributors have been paid for their writing, something that is always a struggle.
Interviews & Reviews
CBC Podcast: The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers
CBC Books: The best Canadian nonfiction of 2022
The Impact of Concussion with Jane Cawthorne (podcast)
I’ve Read This Book review: Impact Women Writing After Concussion
“As a reader, I oscillated between so many emotions as I read this collection; fear, pity, anxiety, hope, and awe of the strength displayed on these pages.”
Alberta Views Magazine: Impact review
“Impact is one of the best anthologies I’ve ever read. It is not a quick read. Much pain and beauty are in its pages. I found myself needing—wanting—time and space for my mind to absorb it all.”
Praise for Impact
“I know people who have had serious concussions. I’m familiar with a devastating range of symptoms. But those I know are not writers; those in this book are. They articulate that experience with bravery and insight; painfully, but personally. I know concussion specialists who are open-minded about how much they don’t know about concussion. This is a book for them. And for the rest of us too.”
– Jay Ingram, science writer and broadcaster
“The personal essays and poetry collected in this anthology edited by activist writers Morin and Cawthorne explore how concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) impact women, and in particular, how suffering a concussion and TBI has affected the individual lives of the various contributing authors…. The anthology is divided into five sections, each bookended with poetry, and includes essays on, e.g., accepting the effects of injury, the challenges of healing, the life changes wrought by concussion, and the struggle for recovery of the creative process…. The essays, written by a diverse group of women writers, were selected with the aim of helping women who have suffered from concussion realize that they are not alone.”
– C. A. Nadon, CHOICE Magazine
“Recommended reading…. we find it compelling and profoundly accurate.”
– Concussion Alliance newsletter, March 2, 2022
“This book is such a gift to women, like me, who have suffered concussion. I devoured it. I revelled in it. I gave/give thanks for it. I offer deep gratitude for these eloquent women courageously sharing their personal stories about the invisible thief that is concussion. Right from the introduction, I was saying yes, Yes, YES! Impact is also a gift of great writing for general readers. This book creates affirmation, validation, and understanding. I believe it will also create change. Every writer is Wonder Woman in my eyes. Thank you for (your) Impact.”
– Shelagh Rogers, O.C., Host of The Next Chapter, CBC Radio
“Imagine losing your abilities to create language or poetry; to be unable to freely put pen to paper. Impact delves into the raw emotional challenges faced by authors dealing with brain injuries. Readers of the anthology join the authors’ recovery as they share universal themes of creativity, isolation, regression, growth, femininity, and pain related to TBI. I recommend this anthology to others and look forward to using it as a resource within and beyond the hospital.”
– Dr. Shree Bhalerao, FRCP(C) MD, Pgd, BA, BSc, St. Michael’s Hospital, Associate Professor, University of Toronto
“This book offers validation and companionship to people who have suffered head injuries, and to many other ill people whose symptoms derail their lives but resist clinical interventions. Clinicians will gain valuable insight into how symptoms affect lives as they are lived outside of what can be perceived within the clinic. For me, the most compelling chapters take up a paradoxical task: telling a story about what prevents you from telling the story you most need to tell.”
– Arthur W. Frank, author of At the Will of the Body and The Wounded Storyteller
“The essays in Impact function like the name of the anthology itself: long after reading these varied pieces I felt the effects. The through-line in this collection about concussion is a diverse, idiosyncratic reaction as unique as each contributor’s writing style. How could one story describe concussion in women? It can’t. We need each of these voices. Amid a health care system that evaluates women on a scale developed for and by men, these authors testify to the diffuse, confusing, inconsistent symptoms that come with brain injury. I venture that people with neurological challenges will feel confirmed and those whose loved ones live with post-concussion syndrome may understand why this state is almost impossible to articulate from deep inside the fog. E. D. Morin and Jane Cawthorne’s assemblage of artists and thinkers create a chorus of testimony to capture medicine’s attention with the full force of personal testimony.”
– Elee Kraljii Gardiner, Trauma Head and Against Death: 35 Essays on Living
Videos
We made six video trailers for Impact – a trailer for the whole book and a longer one for each part, with select contributors reading excerpts from their work. The trailer project was a labour of love on the part of the participating writers and our wonderful video editor, Junyeong Kim.
For a deeper dive behind the scenes of Impact, watch our book launch with Toronto Lit Up and the Toronto International Festival of Authors, moderated by Jay Ingram. It’s pretty great!