Write Where We Belong was created from the belief that each of us is born with creative genius and that the creative self has the power to heal—not only the self, but the world we live in. Two decades ago I shared a single poem that helped ignite a global movement using art to challenge the myths that silence survivors. That same conviction continues to guide everything I do: to leverage the healing powers of the creative self to help ourselves and each other heal and become agents of healing in our own communities.
This ecosystem is built on a simple premise: healing requires truth. We do not break free by sanitizing what has happened to us, or by smoothing violence into something more palatable for the comfort of others We write and create on the axis of trauma, grief, and repair. My work centres on people with lived experiences of grief and loss—whether through gender-based violence, sexual violence, or other forms of traumatic violence—and on the many personal and collective losses that shape our time: the loss of our freedoms, the loss of our own voices, the loss of loved ones, the loss of our earth, our forests, our rivers, and the climate that sustains us—the loss of the nature that keeps us all alive—the loss of ourselves, and the loss of our connections to each other as human beings. It is through writing and art that I seek to understand what loss reveals about meaning, resilience, and the possibility of repair.
Write Where We Belong is a multifaceted Canadian literary and arts organization focused on using writing and art as tools for social justice. With a core dedication to advancing social justice, ending violence, and harnessing the powers of the creative self, Write Where We Belong hosts workshops, literary and arts events, and provides editing and production services for creative works. Write Where We Belong Press curates, edits, and publishes writing that emerges from the layered geographies of structural and gender-based violence, grief, loss, and hope.
By creating spaces for writers and artists of all levels to explore, discover, and share their stories, we hope to cultivate new conversations that will be the impetus for change. Things can be different. We can do better, together.
Discover the power of your creative genius to reclaim your story, advocate for social justice, and create meaning through art.
We curate produce, edit, and publish poetry, prose, and anthologies that center truth-telling, creative recovery, and the power of art to create space to bear witness. Our authors write from lived experience, bringing forward work that transforms personal and collective experience into meaning, healing, and hope.
What others say about the Press: "Write Where We Belong Press—like its visionary leader, Mary Simmerling—is a revolution in print. As the force behind it, Mary is a beacon of integrity and courage, someone who knows how to honor and support the unique voice each writer, working collaboratively to midwife every story into print, ensuring that each and every writer is seen, heard and celebrated in the most powerful way.” — Elizabeth Perlman, founder of The Intuitive Writing Project and author of Word Magic
