Poetry for the Dementia Journey - An AlzAuthors Anthology

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton welcomed AlzAuthors to the show to learn about their new book "Poetry for the Dementia Journey - An AlzAuthors Anthology".

 

Marianne Sciucco - Co-Founder of AlzAuthors:

 

Marianne Sciucco is not a nurse who writes but a writer who happens to be a nurse, using her skills and experience to create stories that bear witness to the humanity in all of us. She writes contemporary, women's and young adult fiction. With more than 20-years’ experience as a staff nurse and case manager, she's worked with countless families dealing with issues related to aging, elder care, Alzheimer's, and dementia. In 2002, she put the two together and began writing about the intricate lives of people struggling with health and family issues.

 

She published her debut novel, "Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story," in 2013 to glowing reviews. This book led her to become a co-founder and manager of AlzAuthors, the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Started by three women who had each written a book about dementia in 2015, there are now more than 350 author contributors. She is the producer and host for Untangling Alzheimer’s and Dementia, an AlzAuthors Podcast. When not writing she works as a campus nurse at a community college in New York's Hudson Valley.

 

Ann Campanella - Manager and Director of AlzAuthors:

 

Ann Campanella is a former magazine and newspaper editor. She is the author of two award-winning memoirs and four collections of poetry. Her writing has appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals and online sites across the country and around the world. Her first memoir, Motherhood: Lost and Found, tells the story of her mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s at the same time Ann was trying to become a mother and dealing with a series of miscarriages.

 

This memoir was named “One of the best Alzheimer’s books of all time,” by Book Authority two years in a row. Celiac Mom, Ann’s second memoir, tells the story of her daughter’s celiac diagnosis and her family’s transition to a gluten-free lifestyle and has become a “go-to” resource for those with celiac. 

 

Two of Ann’s poetry books, What Flies Away and The Beach Poems, capture poignant moments of living with and loving someone with dementia. Ann is a manager and director of AlzAuthors, a nonprofit organization representing hundreds of books about Alzheimer’s and dementia. In 2018, she was recognized by her hometown newspaper as one of the Most Influential Women in her community for her work promoting Alzheimer’s awareness. Ann and her husband live on Lake Norman in North Carolina and enjoy nightly sunsets.

 

Sue Fagalde Lick - Caregiver & Author:

 

Sue Fagalde Lick, who lives on the Oregon coast, has published three poetry chapbooks, Gravel Road Ahead, The Widow at the Piano, and Blue Chip Stamp Guitar, and a full-length collection, Dining Al Fresco with My Dog. Her prose books include Stories Grandma Never Told, Childless by Marriage, and No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer’s. When not writing, she plays music wherever people will listen.