36 Hours

Book Launch with Fiona Mason

St Mary’s Annexe

7pm  Friday 11^th November, 2022

Tickets £5.00

Beverage included

Join us on Friday 11^th of November to celebrate the publication of 36 Hours by Wivenhoe author, Fiona Mason.

Fiona will give some readings from the book and be in conversation with Julia Payne.

About the Book

Writer Fiona Mason

Less than a year after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer, Fiona’s husband died at home. She was his carer. Unflinching in its detail, this book is a delicate chronicle of his last day and an account of thirty-six hours that changed her life. It’s also an invitation to every reader to find the courage to have more open and honest conversations about death and dying.

Fiona wrote 36 Hours because it was the book that she needed to read after her husband’s death but couldn’t find. She published it hoping that by sharing her experience, patients and carers might feel less alone, and GPs, consultants and others involved in end-of-life care would gain greater insight into what patients and their loved ones are going through, making a positive difference to the way they guide people through the dying process.

About Fiona Mason

Originally from the Midlands, Fiona Mason now lives between the salt marshes of the east of England, and the Ariege Pyrenees in southwest France where she’s renovating a house with her partner.

She holds MAs in Philosophy (Essex) and Creative and Life Writing (Goldsmiths) and combines her work as a writer with roles as a coach, mentor and creative writing tutor.

She’s at her happiest when lost in words or exploring a wild landscape.

About Julia Payne

Wivenhoe based Julia Payne is founding director of the hub, a social enterprise that develops new thinking and practice in the creative sector. In 2021, Julia won IPSE’s Wellbeing Award for the hub’s  Balance toolkit, which she developed during the pandemic, and which is packed with resources to help creative freelancers take better care of their minds and their businesses. To take better care of her mind – and therefore her business – she bakes cakes, grows things and likes to get lost in music.

Reviews

‘Fiona’s intimate account of the last thirty-six hours of a man’s life is a powerful work of life writing. It’s courageous, tender, exasperated, angry, lyrical and occasionally even funny, but never voyeuristic. The simplicity of the prose and the honesty of observation are compelling.’ Blake Morrison

Powerful and precise writing. It tackles elusive emotional states in a highly nuanced way. The detail is so lovingly preserved and presented. Sasha Dugdale

Rarely have I felt so transported by someone else’s words. Fiona draws you into the most intimate and personal of spaces and offers you the privilege of sharing thirty-six hours that would normally be invisible to the outside world. With great honesty and generosity, she invites us into her home as she cares for her dying husband. It’s an invitation you won’t want to turn down. Bobbie Farsides, Professor of Clinical and Biomedical Ethics, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

36 Hours addresses an area of real current debate and interest and does so in a way that prioritises both aesthetic and human concerns equally. Committed and talented writing. Chris Gribble, National Centre for Writing

The writing is vivid and very clear, highlighting the delicate balance and poignancy of the work involved in end-of-life care and the minutiae of support involved in the simplest of daily activities, making the mundane poetic. A remarkable piece of work. Kate Flatt OBE

Deeply moving and intensely raw. Li Mills, Death Doula

I’m in awe of the honesty and openness with which Fiona described her experience. Her account is a wonderful way of opening up some much-needed conversations about death and dying, not only at a public/societal level but, also at the patient-professional level. Dr Simone Ali, Consultant in Palliative Medicine