“They say you write from your own life and you write what you know,” says Susan Cushman.
Her first novel tells the story of a young girl who escapes violence into a religious cult and then finds herself surrounded by art. A short story tells the story of a young girl in St. Judah who is healed by a weeping icon. Other works tell of mental health, adoption, caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.
And her new book, Pilgrim Interrupted, is filled with themes from her life that readers will experience in 35 essays, three poems and five excerpts from her novels and short stories.
There is the story of her worship on the island of Patmos, a visit to the Cave of the Apocalypse, where St. John was given the Book of Revelation and where the worship of Cushman was “interrupted”.
And there is the story of her journey to Eastern Orthodoxy, even if she learned to write “Lives of Saints in Color” while painting icons such as those that appear in her church, the Orthodox Church of St. John.
“Worship. Orthodoxy. Icons. Monasteries. Everything is here,” reads the back cover. “But the stories of mental health, care, death, family and writing, including the ‘place’ section, are a key element in southern literature. And how is Susan’s worship “interrupted”? From life itself.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Cushman grew up writing. She has a shoe box with letters she wrote in the 1950s and 1960s, which she sent to her grandmother, telling her everything, “including things you wouldn’t tell your own mother,” she said. she. The letters told of her first kiss, a fight with her brother, and continued until she married.
“I am writing to understand my life and what has happened to me and to heal,” Cushman said. “It’s very cathartic. Writing is very cathartic and I hope there is an element of healing that goes through all my work. ”
But it wasn’t until 2007 that she launched her blog, PEN AND PALETTE, which will be the basis for her memoir Tangle and Cry: Mother and Daughter Facing Alzheimer’s Disease.
Married to an Orthodox priest, Cushman left the Presbyterian faith from her childhood in the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1987, the year before moving to Memphis.
An entire section of The Interrupted Pilgrim is about Icons, Orthodoxy, and Spirituality.
Icons are religious works of art, often depicting Christ, Mary, saints and scenes from Scripture. They fill the walls and ceilings of Orthodox churches.
“The icons are called evangelical in color. They, of course, serve especially in past communities where people were illiterate. Many of them tell stories, “Kushman said.” When I studied it, I found that I found a whole new level of worship. ”
For years, Cushman wrote icons, taught lessons, and even took assignments. She eventually retired from iconic writing, focusing on full-time word writing in 2010.
This is an icon of Christ revealed by brush strokes, which is presented on the cover of “Pilgrim Interrupted”.
After all, her new book is a “personal memoir as well as a spiritual journey,” Cushman said.
In it, she hopes people “can find a measure of healing and encouragement to have their own spiritual worship, whether physical or just reading and praying.”
Start in Novel Memphis
Pilgrim Interrupted, a spiritual memoir, will be released on Tuesday, June 7, with a release at Novel Memphis at 6:30 p.m. Novel is located at 387 Perkins Extension, Memphis, 38117.
Catherine Burgess covers county governance and religion. It can be found at [email protected], 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.