Böcker av Julie Stevens

"Julie Stevens speaks with the true voice of feeling, wrestling hope out of pain and celebrating every small instance of joy. Her experience of long-term illness draws her into many unlit areas of emotion. She illuminates these dark places with subtle cascades of metaphor. She is a genuine poet."- Steve Logan, musician and poet"It's not just the striking images, the startling turns of phrase that are so arresting within Julie's poetry - it's the bold and candid detailing of her battle with illness that make the poems impossible to put down. And despite the sometimes painful subject matter, these are poems of such resilience and bravery that they are energizing and empowering to read and full of an unextinguishable vitality."- Anna Saunders, Founding Director Cheltenham Poetry Festival"'I am here and I am holding the dark.' This collection is a glimpse behind the everyday movement we take for granted. Julie Stevens has identified the wolf in the darkness and here, in these poems where brave lays down next to broken, she is willing to step outside, no matter how difficult that is. There is no sugar coating here; the truth weighs heavy and the wind mocks but the honesty etched into every line reveals itself, as a resilience that will not be simply blown away."- Damien B Donnelly, poet and podcast producer"Throughout this collection, we're granted a rare and precious intimacy - drawn time and again into the poet's vulnerability and fragility, yet these poems sing with fierce strength and determination. This is a powerful, incisive and devastatingly honest collection; Julie's gentle voice pierces the reader time and time again, but she never shuts us out. We're drawn with her through each difficult moment and through each soaring dream. It's exquisite."- Anne McMaster

When Julie Stevens was first diagnosed with autism, she wanted to read and understand as much as possible - particularly around the emotional impact of diagnosis. However, there didn't seem to be much out there for people like Julie, diagnosed later in life and already with an established life and career. Julie didn't know whether what she was feeling and experiencing was usual, or whether she was an outlier. Struggling to accept her diagnosis and its implications, Julie started writing. This book is the result: an open and honest account of the first year after an autism diagnosis. This book takes you on a whistlestop tour of how Julie coped with some of the limitations the diagnosis placed upon her and came to her own conclusions about what it means to live life on the autism spectrum, with all the joys and challenges that can bring. But most of all, it's a book about coming to terms with a label that can change your life, even if that's not what you were expecting at the outset.