October Mourning, Leslea Newman
October Mourning, Leslea Newman
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October Mourning
A Song for Matthew Shepard

Author: Lesléa Newman

Narrator: Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister, Lesléa Newman

Unabridged: 1 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/25/2012

Synopsis

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew’s murder.October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself.More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.

About Lesléa Newman

Lesléa Newman is the author of more than sixty books for readers of all ages, including the children’s classic Heather Has Two Mommies, as well as the young adult novel Jailbait, the middle-grade novel Hachiko Waits, and the adult poetry collection Still Life with Buddy. Her award-winning short story “A Letter to Harvey Milk” has been adapted for the stage. She has been awarded poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and is on the faculty of Spalding University’s MFA brief-residency in writing program. She is also a former poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition, she works closely with the Matthew Shepard Foundation as a member of their speakers’ bureau. She has visited schools all over the country giving her presentation “He Continues to Make a Difference: The Story of Matthew Shepard.” Lesléa Newman lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kai on January 07, 2021

This is just to say I'm sorry to deny your request to use the gay panic defense Forgive me for pointing out the obvious: there was someone gay and panicked that night but that someone wasn't you I expected to cry, and at the same time I thought, nah, it's just words, and it's poetry, which means even fewer wor......more

Goodreads review by Dave on August 23, 2017

I made a commitment twenty years ago that I would not forget Matthew Shepard. I think it was in part because of Doug, my Peter VanDaan from the high school production I directed of The Diary of Ane Frank who died later in Chicago of AIDS. Gay, kidnapped by two straight drunk kids pretending to be ga......more

Goodreads review by Paul on April 20, 2012

This review of OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD is based upon the Advanced Reader Copy of the title. Is it any coincidence that the very day this book was left on my doorstep is the very day that I would stay home with my son who was not feeling well when he woke up? Or that the book woul......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on August 04, 2017

I was in middle school when Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered. His story had and continues to have a strong impact on me. As a Denver native, and as someone with gay friends and family members, the fact that something so terrible could happen so close to home was deeply saddening and unsettling.......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on September 17, 2012

This is a short book of poems all centered around the murder of Matthew Shepard. They're told from various perspectives (human but also inanimate objects including the fence that he was tied to). I've read a lot of Leslea Newman's books and loved all that I've read. This is by far the best thing of h......more

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