Ever wonder where your mind goes during a three-hour surgery sedation? I’m here to tell you I have an exquisite recall of the event. My surgeon begs to differ, but I briefed myself before the propofol ran wild, causing my left arm to freeze before blowing apart.

My manual communication went unnoticed as masked humans sliced new incisions and wrestled out the old implants. I could hear muffled voices discussing the scar tissue of eleven years of wear, just when my cancer was at a crossroads.

I wanted to clean up the room, jigsaw my arm remnants back into the shape of a limb, and drink coffee. I wanted to go swimming at Kepuhi Beach on Molokai, topless, skip my implants atop the water, and let the mermaids play dress up, ready to claim their identity.

That’s when the sea maidens gathered around my bed and took turns reconstructing my arm. Their luminescent eyebrowed tentacles chimed as they swayed around me, never hesitating to moan in a melody so comforting, so soothing, so indicative of their whale gods.

Before the tide subsides, I am welcomed into their nautical world. Do I leave this all behind? The scar-tissued implants, the diminishment of femininity, and the need for caffeine? They’ve transformed my arm into a fin, a sign of acceptance, a vice for survival, how can I not?

—

Want to read more from Suzanne Nielsen? Get your copy of Face Up: A Collection of Outlaw Poems today! Buy now on Amazon

You are also encouraged to listen to Suzanne Nielsen read from her recently published essay from Oleb Books’ latest title, Accessing Parenthood: Stories by and About Parents With Disabilities, during our virtual book launch party, posted on our YouTube channel.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed the world’s economy.  Countless businesses have had to close their doors in order to shelter in place and slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, Oleb Books has been affected by the crisis. Many of our corporate and fundraising sponsors are in limbo, and there’s no way of knowing when things will return to normal.

Because of the current state of our economy, we regret to say we will be unable to sign new authors or review new manuscripts through the end of 2020. This decision is a great disappointment to us, as we are committed to our mission of giving authors with disabilities a platform where they can be heard.

Rest assured that Oleb Books is not going out of business. Our D Lit blog will continue to share book recommendations and disability news. Our first two books, Firsts: Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities and Blind: A Memoir, both of which have won awards, remain available through our retail partners. We are working with our existing authors and plan to publish new books in 2021.

Please bear with us as we ride out this pandemic. We are not going away and look forward to the day when we can accept new manuscripts and sign new authors.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please visit our donation page.

The post Oleb Books and COVID-19 appeared first on Oleb Books.

By Belo Miguel Cipriani

I learned to be a writer by being around other writers. Through workshops offered through the San Francisco literary nonprofit Litquake, Meetup.com, and Craigslist, I met other people who had stories to tell and, like myself, were eager to pen their first book. It was at one of those early writing classes that I learned about graduate writing programs, and decided to make the two-year commitment to being a full-time student.

In grad school, I learned how to take in criticism, as well as to write under deadlines. I also discovered I do my best writing in the morning and that poetry does not come to me as easy as prose.

While my Masters in creative writing gave me the tools to start my writing career, a year after completing my degree, I felt as though there was something missing in my writing regimen. It was not until I came across the announcement for the Lambda Literary Fellowship for LGBT writers that I recognized what was missing.

As a Jewish and Latin writer, I found plenty of support in writing groups in and out of class; however, as the only gay dude in my writing program, I did not get much feedback.

My Lambda experience was life-changing. Not only did I begin to understand the importance of having the right advice for my work, it also taught me about the importance of writing in community.

I took the Lambda experience and looked for other writers with disabilities to review my work. It was at this point in my career that I began to better understand the disability narrative, and was able to figure out how I want to write about my blindness.

More often than not, the stories of people with disabilities are told for us, not by us. I am launching Oleb Books because I want to give writers with disability an opportunity to work with editors and publishing professionals with disabilities that will help them to tell their stories.

The post Why a Blind Man Started a Publishing House appeared first on Oleb Books.

Our debut title, Firsts: Coming of Age Stories by People with Disabilities, was released in October 2018.

The post Our First Book! appeared first on Oleb Books.