A monthly series including news about an Arkansas book, author, event, or item of literary interest to Arkansans.
By Erin Wood
February is the month of love. The pandemic has greatly expanded my sense of that word. Sometimes love means not saying what I am tempted to, listening more closely and being quiet even when I have my own troubles to share, reaching out to someone knowing that they need support or that I need it, or loving myself by remembering I don’t always have to “do”. . . that just “being” is enough. Often, it means leaning into the wisdom of a good book.
These books can help you nurture yourself and those you care about:
Nurture Caregivers: The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal by Jennifer A. O’Brien. Everyone facing death—their own or a loved one’s—benefits from this love story and practical guide in one.
Nurture Yogis: Rooted in the understanding that yoga teachers are themselves lifelong students of yoga, The Mud & The Lotus: A Guide and Workbook for Students of Yoga by Courtney Butler Robinson offers opportunities for aspiring teachers and new students alike to grow in their practice.
Nurture Young Women: This pay yourself first system is the ticket to a life of freedom, transformed through saving. But First, Save 10: The One Simple Money Move That Will Change Your Life by Sarah-Catherine Gutierrez. Keep the conversation going with Money Talks Conversation Cards.
Nurture Creatives: Meet fifty Arkansas women whose failures, victories, and wisdom will open you to infinite possibilities and help you step into your own creative freedom. Women Make Arkansas: Conversations with 50 Creatives by Erin Wood.
Nurture Girls: Forthcoming March 20, From Cotton to Silk: The Magic of Black Hair by Crystal C. Mercer is a textile-based book created from 467-hours of hand sewing, encouraging girls to love themselves as they are.
Titles are available at www.etaliapress.com and through local and national booksellers.
A Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs Et Alia Press (www.etaliapress.com). Wood is author of Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives (April, 2019) and editor of and a contributor to Scars: An Anthology (2015).
