Poet Susan Deborah King to Read from Her Latest Collection of Poems, One-Breasted Woman, April 3

Princeton, NJ, March 7, 2008–In One-Breasted Woman, Susan Deborah King offers poems that are utterly alive: vivid with fear, heightened awareness, anger, tenderness, sorrow, playfulness, and even joy. King will share these transformative works when she comes to Princeton Theological Seminary for a poetry reading on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Mackay Campus Center.

In this book, her third collection of poems, King bears witness to a soul’s transformation in the wake of a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent mastectomy. She is consumed with outrage at the possible systemic causes of her disease. She holds the earth and loved ones close as she contemplates her end. She connects with and feels the suffering of others.

First diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, the act of writing this collection was an essential part of King’s recovery. In her preface she states: “The process of diagnosis, treatment and recovery, and the writing about it was indeed a transformative one, leaving me with an abiding sense of poignancy about our life’s brevity, gratitude for it, and joy.”

King has taught writing at the University of Minnesota, the Loft, and United Theological Seminary. Formerly a Presbyterian minister and psychotherapist, she leads retreats on creativity and spirituality. She is founding director of the Literary Witnesses Reading Series at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. She has published two previous poetry books: Coven and Tabernacle: Poems of an Island.

This event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Princeton Seminary’s Office of Field Education, the Wholistic Health Initiative, the Women’s Center, and the Women in Church and Ministry Council. For more information, please contact Jacqueline Lapsley at jacqueline.lapsley@ptsem.edu.

Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812 as the first seminary established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. It is the largest Presbyterian seminary in the country, with more than 700 students in seven graduate degree programs.