Rachel Eliza Griffiths recently appeared on the Memoir Nation Podcast, hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, to discuss her new memoir, The Flower Bearers. The book reflects on the profound grief following the deaths of her best friend, poet Kamilah Aisha Moon, and the stabbing of her husband, author Salman Rushdie.
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In the interview, Griffiths explores how grief can be articulated through layers of experience in writing. This memoir serves not only as a personal reflection but also as the book club selection for Memoir Nation this month, with a discussion planned for March 27.
Griffiths is an accomplished poet, novelist, and visual artist, having received multiple accolades including the Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize. Her poetry has been widely recognized, with her collection Mule & Pear awarded the 2012 Inaugural Poetry Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her fourth collection, Lighting the Shadow, was a finalist for the 2015 Balcones Poetry Prize and the 2016 Phillis Wheatley Book Award in Poetry. Her debut novel, Promise, was also distinguished as a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and the Chicago Public Library. The Flower Bearers, released earlier this year, marks her first venture into memoir writing.