The Light Streamed Beneath It: A memoir of Grief and Celebration

(Paperback)

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Award-winning comedian Shawn Hitchins takes readers into a year of unthinkable loss in this memoir that explores grief, love, sex, community, and the beautiful absurdity of being alive.

A lifetime of finding punchlines in his heartache comes to a shuddering stop when comedian and writer Shawn Hitchins loses two great loves, five months apart, to sudden death. In this deeply poignant memoir that combines sober self-portrait with tender elegy, Hitchins explores the messiness of being alive: the longing and desire, scorching-earth anger, raw grief and the pathway of healing he discovers when he lets his heart remain open.

Never without an edge of self-awareness, The Light Streamed Beneath It invites the reader into Hitchinss world as he reckons with his past and stays painfully in the present. As he builds an embodied future, he confronts the stories that have shaped him, sets aside his ambition, and seeks connection in what he used to deflect with laughter therapy, community and chosen family, movement, spirituality, and an awareness of deaths ever-presence.

A heartrending and hope-filled story of resilience in the wake of death, The Light Streamed Beneath It joyfully affirms that life is essentially good, as Hitchins weaves his tale full of tenacious spirit, humor, kindness, and grit through lifes most unforgiving challenges.Award-winning comedian Shawn Hitchins takes readers into a year of unthinkable loss in this memoir that explores grief, love, sex, community, and the beautiful absurdity of being alive.

'A timely story so human, so beautiful, so bravely told with heart and humour.' Rosie ODonnell

'This is an embodied story of love, loss, and recovery raw, candid, and filled with a sense of awe at human resilience.' Shelf Awareness

'Deeply moving and beautifully told, The Light Streamed Beneath It manages the remarkable: to share an impossibly sad story with vulnerability and tenderness while also carrying us through the pain with care and grace and even weaving in joy, desire, and utter aliveness along the way. Shawn Hitchinss path of rebuilding trust in life after absolute heartbreak will stay with me always.' Christa Couture, author of How to Lose Everything

'Shawn Hitchinss writing is generous, beautiful, and fearless in its authenticity; it so warmly embraces love and all that it means to experience it. Each page of The Light Streamed Beneath It is a celebration of life and the complexity of humanity, assuring every reader that were not alone in our darkness or loss. Frankly, it is one of the most important books that Ive read.' Anne T. Donahue, author of Nobody Cares

'In his moving and eloquent memoir, Shawn Hitchins beautifully explores the messiness of our human lives, and reminds us not to mourn what we lose but to celebrate what we gain. While grief is inevitable in every life, The Light Streamed Beneath It serves as a radiant testament that our strongest armour is an open and unafraid heart.' Brian Francis, author of Fruit and Missed Connections

Reviews

"Deeply moving and beautifully told, The Light Streamed Beneath It manages the remarkable: to share an impossibly sad story with vulnerability and tenderness while also carrying us through the pain with care and grace -- and even weaving in joy, desire, and utter aliveness along the way. Shawn Hitchins's path of rebuilding trust in life after absolute heartbreak will stay with me always." -- Christa Couture, author of How to Lose Everything
"In his moving and eloquent memoir, Shawn Hitchins beautifully explores the messiness of our human lives, and reminds us not to mourn what we lose but to celebrate what we gain. While grief is inevitable in every life, The Light Streamed Beneath It serves as a radiant testament that our strongest armour is an open and unafraid heart." -- Brian Francis, author of Fruit and Missed Connections
"Shawn Hitchins's writing is generous, beautiful, and fearless in its authenticity; it so warmly embraces love and all that it means to experience it. Each page of The Light Streamed Beneath It is a celebration of life and the complexity of humanity, assuring every reader that we're not alone in our darkness or loss. Frankly, it is one of the most important books that I've read." -- Anne T. Donahue, author of Nobody Cares

Author Bio

Shawn Hitchins is the author of A Brief History of Oversharing (ECW, 2017). His one-man show Ginger Nation toured extensively before being filmed in concert. Hitchins is an award-winning entertainer, writer, personality, and creator of live performance. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he splits himself between Eastern and Pacific time zones.