Minnetonka Book Club

Brad and I had such a great time speaking at the Minnetonka community center last night.  One of the book clubs there (no name…yet) chose Songs of My Families for this month’s selection.  They were so kind.  It was fun to get to know them all.  Thank you so much ladies for the wonderful flowers.  Brad and I had a great time.  🙂

Beautiful Flowers!

I will be speaking at the Como Cottage Concert Series in St. Paul this Saturday, June 22nd.  Remember that you will need to call or email host Timothy Young to make sure that there is room.  See you there!

The Como Cottage Concert Series’
Timothy Young and Dalyce Elliott present
Author of Songs of My Families
KELLY FERN

Saturday June 22, 2013 7:30 pm
1610 Fernwood St. St. Paul, MN 55108Seating is limited to 25
so reserve your seat at tim@twoboots.net
or call 651-488-4896

 

Kelly Meets her Biological Mother After 37 Years!

Here in this clip from the Korean Broadcasting System documentary, my youngest brother Pyongsoo helps my mother down the front steps of her house.  Within minutes she will meet me for the first time in 37 years.  This is the story told in my memoir “Songs of My Families”.

My nephew Sungsoo is driving us from Daegon to Geumsan.  I try to soak in the beautiful landscape along the way.  This is my motherland, for goodness sake, the mountainous land from where I came.  But it’s no use.  I’m too tired to keep my head up.  I get as comfortable as I can and fall asleep.

My mother’s back is bent from years of hard work in the fields.  She sits in her walker and waits for her lost daughter.  Some of the neighbors start to gather around.  “Dudio” is the Korean word for “finally.”  You can hear the narrator say “Dudio” as the car arrives.

“Kelly,” Brad says, as he is getting out of the car.  “There’s your mother.”  He hugs her, and backs out of the way so she can make her way to me.

I can see her standing in front of the car.  She has dark-black curly hair and glasses.  I get out and we come together.  She cries my Korean name over and over again as she hugs me.  “Myhongiya!  Myhongiya!”  She touches my face so tenderly and brushes the hair back from my face.  I want so desperately to remember her, but I don’t.

My mother, when she was young, the day she wed my father

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cici greets her biological grandmother.  Brad’s got Max – still groggy from jetlag – practically draped over his shoulder. I’m so thankful Brad and the kids came with me on this trip.  I can’t imagine being here without them.  The emotion has already been so heavy.  There’s so much to process, so much to take in. I wouldn’t want to do this alone.

I look around for the translator each time my mother speaks to me, and it hits me.  Suddenly, I realize that I won’t be able to speak to my family.  We no longer share the same language, and it makes me sad.

We turn, all of us, and walk to my mother’s house.  Soon, we’ll be eating a wonderful feast!

More Amazon Reviews

A special thanks to everyone who has taken the time to go onto Amazon (and other sites) to reveiw Songs of My Families.  Recently, several more comments have been added to the list, and we wanted to share them here with our blog readers:

 

What an amazing story. Other reviewers are right: I honestly could not put this
book down. I’ve never read this genre before and got to peek into a very
different life experience. There are a couple things I will never take for
granted again. One of them is eating an apple. Another is having a bed to sleep
on! This is a fascinating, heart wrenching, heartwarming, and inspiring story.
Kelly’s journey is so well written. It is a multi-faceted story that comes full
circle. That said, it has the makings of a great movie. My only disappointment
with this book was when I was done reading it and I wanted more. Yes, you may
need a couple tissues when reading this book. And some of those tears will be
happy tears. 

Thanks CK (The Mini Apple)

_____

This story is well written and has so many parallels
of two generations and
how those  [generations] are intertwined…

I read the book in 2 days.  It was hard to put
down…have tissue near by…

Thanks Ricardo

______

Reading Songs of My Families let me be a part of both of the author’s families.
A book that let the reader be right beside her as she seeks her past and blends
her present. It touched my heart so many times, although not heavy. Enough
description without too much detail just enough to again take the reader there.
Multilevel in thoughts of adoption, seeking family secrets and being of two
cultures. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks Grandma Rudi

_____

Great book “Songs of My Families” is a true story about an adopted Korean’s life
journey to America and back to Korea to find her birth family after 37 years.
The book is about her life experiences and the obstacles that she had endure
during her journey in life. However, with many obstacles in her life, she was
able to fullfilled those unanswered questions and carried the burden of guilt
for many years because of her choices she made in her young adolescent years.
Life has a way of throwing curve balls in everyone’s life, it’s how you deal
with those curve balls that will either break you or make you stronger. In this
book, she dealt with those obstacles and it make her a much strong person –
heartwarming story! I would totally recommend reading this book.

Thanks Alisha!

_____

We’re up to 20 Amazon reviews, and looking forward to many more!

How “Songs of My Families” was Published

Some readers of “Songs of My Families” have been asking about our book publishing experience.  It appears that there are some aspiring writers out there who have read the book and are reading this blog!  They ask, How did we get “Songs…” published?  Where does an author begin?  I will tell the story, and hopefully that will address these questions and more.

The Lantern Books Logo

As many of you know, Brad wrote a book about working with delinquent boys called “Ashes to Gold, the Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy” with his friend and mentor Tom Lutz.  After running the manuscript past several copy editors, Brad pitched the book to three different publishers.  Lantern Books was one of those three, and they snapped it right up.

“Ashes to Gold, the Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy”

Brad, Tom, and the Lantern Books’ editors began the back and forth of polishing the finished product.  Eventually, the owner of Lantern Books – GeneGollogly – requested a meeting.  He would be passing through the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, and he thought it was important to meet the authors of “Ashes to Gold” face to face.  So the meeting was arranged at the main-terminal coffee shop.

Of course, I work at the airport.  So I joined the meeting after it had already begun.  I was very pleased to meet Gene.  He’s a handsome fellow with a kind demeanor and a lovely British accent.  As fate would have it, Gene is the father of adopted Korean daughters.  The conversation immediately turned to adoption and then to my story.

As Brad tells it, after I arrived, he ceased to exist.  Gene and I had hit it off, and we were talking about a subject dear to our hearts.  Brad finally broke back into the conversation and suggested that Lantern Books consider “Songs of My Families” which was already in manuscript form.  Gene said, “Sure, send it over.”  And the rest is history.

Before all of you aspiring writers groan and roll your eyes, implying that getting “Songs…” published was easy, you should know that Brad queried over 150 agents.  None would take the project.  We also had another publisher make an offer for the publishing rights, but we turned them down.  Our publishing advisor said, “This isn’t the worst contract offer I’ve ever seen, but it’s close.”  We went with Lantern, and we’re glad we did.

While it is true that serendipity was the agent of opportunity regarding the publishing of “Songs of My Families”, hard work and dedication also played a part.  As the old saying goes, the harder you work the luckier you get.

Lantern Books Compilation Including “Songs of My Families” and “Ashes to Gold”

Brad’s Book on Working With Adolescent Delinquent Boys

I’m really proud that Brad’s other book “Ashes to Gold, the Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy” is getting attention from some high-quality people and organizations.  Brad wrote the book along with his friend and mentor, psychologist Tom Lutz.  Minnesota Poet Timothy Young and his wife Dalyce Elliot will be hosting Brad and Tom as part of their Como Cottage Salon Series of lectures, poetry, and music.

Here’s what people are saying about “Ashes to Gold”:

“The perfect healing story for one of the most troubling and intransigent social dilemmas of our time, that of juvenile delinquents, or ‘lost boys.’ From Ashes to Gold reminds us that there’s nothing so powerful and transformative as a good story well told.”—Eric Utne, founder, Utne Reader
“Filled with true life anecdotes, mythic images, and hard won experience, From Ashes to Gold is essential reading for anyone in the business of working with youth.”—Martin Shaw, author, A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth and the Grace in Wildness
“Brad Fern and Tom Lutz uncover the real human beings who lie hidden behind intimidating disguises of toughness and contempt. Here is the story of why and how ‘agents of the Dark Man’ mentor troubled adolescents. There are young people all over the world crying out for you to read this book and understand its message.”—Bob Roberts, author, My Soul Said to Me: An Unlikely Journey Behind the Walls of Justice

Here is all of the information about the gathering:

Timothy Young and Dalyce Elliott’s

The Como Cottage Salon Series

Authors, therapists and teachers

BRAD FERN & TOM LUTZ

Saturday October 6^th  7:30 pm

Join us as these men discuss their important book

ASHES TO GOLD:

The Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy

Adolescence can be a challenging period for youths, especially in today’s world, where the ancient rites of passage that societies once used to turn their boys into men have disappeared. In an in-depth analysis of the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale “The Devil’s Sooty Brother,” therapists and teachers Brad Fern and Tom Lutz provide a practical and mythic outline for the journey from adolescence to maturity for young men.

Brad Fern   is a psychotherapist in private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has   been involved in mythopoetic men’s work since 1986. He is the co-author of Ashes   to Gold: The Alchemy of Mentoring the Delinquent Boy and Songs of My   Families.

Tom Lutz   has worked with adolescents and families for thirty-three years. He has been   the clinical director of several Minnesota sex-offender programs and   correctional institutions. He is in private practice in Hastings, Minnesota.

Our Como Park house sits just north of the Como Lake golf course, east of the State Fair grounds, west of Lexington and south of Larpenteur.

From Minneapolis, take 35W North, to Hwy 36, to Hamline Exit.  Exit and turn south on Hamline until Larpenteur, turn east to Fernwood, go south one block to 1610 Fernwood. 

Due to the intimacy of the reading, this is a perfume-free environment

Seating is limited to 25 

so reserve your seat at tim@twoboots.net
or call 651-488-4896

PLEASE RSVP SOON TO RESERVE A SEAT

THE BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE TO BUY