Author Description

Children and Teens are expected to grieve the same as adults. In fact there are similarities but our brains are not fully developped yet but we often have bigger and stronger emotions. My name is Olivia Hahn, I lost my mother to cancer when I was 15 and I am deeply grieving. This book is written in the voice of a teenager as a teenager and is an account of finding my voice through all this loss. Learning to express my feelings through dance, poetry and writing gives me space for my grief. I am now allowing myself to feel it because I will no longer put it away because grief doesn’t belong pent up in a cage. Take it out when you are ready because it’s always going to be the crack in the floor that you can never fix, instead get some glue and support it rather than letting it get bigger and bigger where it can no longer hold your weight. I hope that in reading my story you can feel less alone and help with your journey through mourning. When you are ready I encourage you to take your grief out from underneath your bed. Olivia Hahn, Saanich Arts,Culture and Heritage Award winner 2022