Local writers will share their personal experiences with domestic violence to inspire other survivors to tell their own stories during “Storytelling as Healing” event on Thursday, May 28, from 6 to 8 p.m., at 33 Hawley. Hosted by author Patricia Lee Lewis, founding member and past president of the local writers’ association Straw Dog Writers’ Guild, the evening features a reading from her debut novel, “Thorns of the Mesquite,” alongside audiobook narrator Judith Fine. The two will be joined by poet Mydalis Vera, also known as “Guerrera Writer,” who serves on the board of Safe Passage, a Northampton-based survivor advocacy organization.
“I’m hopeful that it will be a fun and joyful occasion that can rise up out of saying, ‘Yes, this happens. It doesn’t have to keep happening in your life, or your neighbor’s. There are ways that we can work together to help each other,’” Lewis said.
Lewis released “Thorns of the Mesquite” last November — on the same day as her 88th birthday. The novel, which was 15 years in the making, is about Dona Rose “Doney” Willis Turn, a west Texas rancher in 1938. As family members and community members come in and out of her life during a time of commonplace spousal abuse and the ever-present threat of the Ku Klux Klan, Dona has to protect herself and her loved ones, even when doing so threatens her own life.
Lewis has donated all of the proceeds from her book to organizations that support survivors of domestic violence and the preservation of civil liberties, including Safe Passage and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Vera will talk about the piece that was published by Safe Passage in the summer 2025 edition of “Survival and Beyond,” an anthology of work created by survivors of domestic violence.
“When you think about a survivor or victim, sometimes people think about this person that is this one way or does this one thing, but, really, it doesn’t matter where you work or where you went to school or where you were born. It can happen to anyone,” Vera said.
The “Storytelling as Healing” event is not exclusive to survivors of domestic violence. Organizers aim to show Safe Passage donors why their contributions are vital while educating the general public on how to recognize the warnings signs of domestic violence.
“It’s good to know what’s available,” Lewis said. “It’s good to know how to prevent violence, how to spot something about to happen and get out of there, how to feel that you are worthy of a life that is free from this kind of fear.”
In fact, when Lewis did a recent reading of her book in Texas, her own home state, she asked the eventgoers if any of them had not experienced domestic violence.
“Out of about 30 people, there were two hands,” she said.
Through this event, Lewis and Vera want to inspire people to separate themselves from the feelings of embarrassment and silence that can come with being a survivor of domestic violence and to remind survivors that the violence was never their fault.
Through her work with Safe Passage, ”There’s always at least one person that will come up to one of us and be like, ‘Okay, this is my time,’” Vera said. “So I think the hope is always that we save one more person or we are able to empower one person to be able to share their story when they’re ready, in order to be able to continue the cycle of healing.”
“There’s a shame about it — ‘Somebody beats me up, I must have somehow deserved it.’ That is a complete lie.’ … I would want to make sure that everybody knows that there is help available and how to get it, where to get it, how safe it is to get it,” Lewis said. “I would like people to know that if you have been, in your life, kept down by fear, that you can ask others for help. You can tell people. You can tell your next-door neighbor. You would be surprised how many people will come forward to help you.”
“Writing and painting and singing and dancing — all of the arts — can be enormously helpful in expressing what you’re feeling, and that in itself can begin to help you heal and have more courage,” she added, “and your courage is going to spread. I do believe, as they say, courage is contagious, so stand up.”
Admission to “Storytelling as Healing” is free and open to the public. ASL interpretation is available and light refreshments will be served. For more information about Patricia Lee Lewis and “Thorns of the Mesquite,” visit writingretreats.org.
