I’ve Been There: Poems from a Breast Cancer Survivor
HARP The People’s Press is pleased to publish I’ve Been There: Poems from a Breast Cancer Survivor, a tribute by Cathy Napier in words and images to WomenAlike, ABreastaRiver (www.women-alike.ca), to coincide with the 20th anniversary of this breast cancer survivor dragon boat team formed in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1999. The proceeds of the first 50 copies of I’ve Been There will go to WomenAlike and subsequently, HARP will donate 15% of all book sales to breast cancer research.
Cathy has created original images to illustrate each of the eight poems she has composed since her diagnosis of breast cancer in 1999 — another 20-year anniversary to celebrate. Her vibrant paintings are in contrast to her mother Cecily Napier’s etching on the front cover, which also illustrates Cathy’s poem “Are We Human?” Cathy’s poems speak to the dark places as well as the resilience of persons with breast cancer.
In the Introduction, John Graham-Pole summarizes: “We think of [Cathy] as a true arts-for-health practitioner—not least, for her own health and healing. And Cathy’s book… is a lovely marriage of the expressive and healing arts.