The Butterfly Diaries is a creative book project that will share true stories of recovery from suicide, as told by established New Zealand writers.
Engage Aotearoa have teamed up with poet Michelle Bolton to gather ten personal stories of recovery and ten writers to tell their stories in creative ways.
Already six female and two male personal story-tellers have signed up for the project and begun their interviews to gather information for their writers. Personal story-tellers range in age from 28 – 62 years old and each one of them is a true example of how human beings can bring themselves out of a place of hopelessness, into a place of hope. Each person has their own strategies to share and The Butterfly Diaries team can already tell that they have a rich resource for the diverse needs of the community waiting to come out.
With so many personal story-tellers already signed up and in the interests of creating a balanced resource, the team has decided to reserve the last two personal story-teller spots for men or LGBT people who have recovered from feeling suicidal. Suicide is really common among these two groups and it would be really useful to have a variety of stories for them in this resource.
If that sounds like you or someone you know, visit The Butterfly Diaries webpage and get in touch with the team.
The hunt is still on for NZ writers to help tell these stories in creative, entertaining ways – more information for writers can also be found online here!
