Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Praise for Bearing Witness

Hello All!

A brilliant Toronto artist, Catherine Tammaro has designed a beautiful piece of artwork for the book cover inspired by a contributor's placenta print. See more of Catherine's work at http://catherinetammaro.com

We also wanted to share the wonderful words of praise we have been receiving from professionals in the birth world. Some of the following quotes were sent off to the U.S. book sales reps for the spring sales catalogue meeting in New York City this week: (see June 1, 2010 post "It’s here!")

All the best, Lisa C & Lisa D
LisaCaron@sympatico.ca
LisaDoran@rogers.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Final Phase

Hello everyone! Happy Equinox!

We are now entering the final phase of our Bearing Witness project. We have 38 wonderful submissions now being edited and preparing to go to print. We are hoping the book will be launched early next year.

Together we have made this book into something absolutely incredible. This book will be a significant piece of work to raise the general understanding and awareness of what a doula is and what we bring to a birth. It speaks strongly and honestly to women's experience of birth today in modern maternity care. This book will have a wide audience of both birth professionals but also the general public. What our contributors have chosen to discuss and bring to the table with their poetry and their stories and their humour and their disappointments is an engaging, thought provoking, and very readable book.

One last final call for authors - we could still squeeze some pieces in if we receive them by September 25. See the first blog post for submission guidelines.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Lisa Doran lisadoran@rogers.com
Lisa Caron lisacaron@sympatico.ca

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Call For Authors

Dear Doula Friends,

We are inviting contributors to the collaborative book:

BEARING WITNESS: Birth Through the Eyes of a Doula, a new 200 page collaborative work which will be published in 2010

This work will be targeted toward doulas, midwives and expectant mothers and will include 20 essays on what it is like to be a doula, to work hands on with women and birthing families in such a traditional and supportive role within the modern obstetrical and midwifery models; to bear witness to their journey, their suffering, their joy and their transformation into mothering.
Deadline for submissions is passed but while we are editing we are still open to having a look at some last minute submissions.

Submissions in the form of editorial essay’s, Poetry, and Artwork (including but not limited to paint, clay, pen, fiber, computer) will all be accepted. Each written submission ranging from 5 to 5,000 words, is signed by the contributor. The General Editors for the work are Lisa Doran and Lisa Caron. The Editors will review all the submissions for editorial content and consistency within our theme.

Written contributors should respect client/patient privacy and speak about the doula’s perspective and role within birth. We are not necessarily looking for birth stories but more stories of how you felt, what you saw, funny stories, things that made you shake your head, things that kept you up at night – your reasons for persisting as a doula, what you carry with you and think about with regard to your clients, your joys, difficulties, why you quit, why you only do home birth or hospital birth – we want to hear it all. We want you to rant, to philosophize, to share what your gut tells you, to share your visions of birth. We’d appreciate very real, tangible stories of your own experiences, in your own words and voice and from the perspective of the very unique and valuable role that doulas play at birth.

If you are interested in contributing to this collaboration, it can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits. Payment for the articles are honoraria of a copy of the book.

Style guide: All submissions must be made electronically to: Lisa Doran at lisadoran@rogers.com. Original artwork can be mailed to me – please contact me for my address.

All written submissions should be in the format of: Word Document, double spaced, font: times new roman 12pt. Please include a short bio and contact information including address, phone number and email with each submission.

We will contact you May 09 with further details of going forward if your submission is to be part of the collaboration.

Please consider contributing to this wonderful reference for doula’s and mothers that will help explain and define our role within the birth team and enlighten the reader to the experience of being a doula, our motivations, our dreams for birthing women and our strong and unique collective voices.

Please forward this through your networks.

Thanks! Any Questions please contact us:

Lisa Doran, N.D., Doula lisadoran@rogers.com
Lisa Caron, Doula lisacaron@sympatico.ca