Published Works

“The way to learn about a writer is to read the text.”

–Annie Dillard

Books

An Adoptee Lexicon
Raised Voice Press (2018)

A collection of micro essays from the viewpoint of an adult adoptee, presented as an out-of-sequence glossary of adoption terminology, connecting social history with contemporary politics.

“. . . a powerful and searing reminder of the redemptive power of truth.” –Caítriona Palmer

“That we might not know who we truly are . . . is a truth this book embraces and with which it struggles . . .” –Christopher Martin

“. . .soul baring, transparent, and risky . . .” –Betsie Norris

Kind words from Michele Sharpe in Hippocampus Magazine

Kind words from Betsie Norris at Adoption Network Cleveland

Kind words from Paige Adams Strickland


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“You Are Beautiful” [essay] in Dear Wonderful You: Letters to Adopted & Fostered Youth edited by Diane Rene Christian and Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman, PhD (November 2014)


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“I Am an Angry Adoptee” [essay] and “In Search Of” [poem] in Lost Daughters: Writing Adoption From a Place of Empowerment and Peace edited by Amanda H.L. Transue-Woolston, Julie Stromberg, Jennifer Anastasi, and myself (March 2014)


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“The Letter: A Story” [fiction] in Perpetual Child: Dismantling the Stereotype edited by Diane Rene Christian and Amanda H.L. Transue-Woolston (November 2013)

Kind words from jayesbrain, 4/26/14

Kind words from Don’t We Look Alike, 4/9/14


ROS 2013

“Swimming” [poem] in Reach of Song: Georgia Poetry Society’s 2013 Anthology edited by Elizabeth Garcia (June 2013)


“She Writes, Ning, and Niche Social Networks” [chapter] in Social Media in Context: Writers Explore the Marketplace edited by Denae Denton (April 2012)


Cover of Oil and Water anthology

“An Ordinary Difference” [essay] in Oil and Water . . . and Other Things That Don’t Mix edited by Zetta Brown and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown (December 2010)


Poems & Essays

Does It Matter If I Never Publish My Memoir? — Brevity blog, September 2017

Honorable mention in the 2016 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Contest for Blood, Reticent (unpublished chapbook)

Lore of the Birth Mother — Conte, May 2014, Volume 9, Issue 2
Back to the Heartland — Cleveland Review, Winter 2012 (defunct)
Can’t Tell by Looking at ThemBluestem, September 2011
ReflectionPoets on Adoption, May 2011
Birth NamePoets on Adoption, May 2011


Book Reviews

An Adoption Legend: Review of The Hundred-Year Flood by Matthew Salesses — Lost Daughters, September 2015
Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe by Lori Jakiela — Lost Daughters, August 2015
Reunited by Pamela Slaton — Lost Daughters, April 2015
Two Memoirs by Claire Hitchon: Finding Heart Horse and The Wall of Secrets — Lost Daughters, February 2015
Out of Love by Noelle Sickels — Lost Daughters, December 2014
The Roving Tree by Elsie Augustave — Lost Daughters, September 2014
Searching for the Castle by Barbara Leigh Ohrstrom — Lost Daughters, February 2014
Thrall by Natasha Trethewey — Flycatcher, Summer/Fall 2013
Darkness Sticks to Everything: Collected and New Poems by Tom Hennen — Flycatcher, Summer/Fall 2013
Not Only the Things That Have Happened by Mridula Koshy — Lost Daughters, November 2013
Becoming Patrick: A Memoir by Patrick McMahon — Lost Daughters, July 2013
Split at the Root by Catana Tully — Lost Daughters, May 2013
Sharks in the Rivers by Ada LimónFlycatcher: A Journal of Native Imagination, January 2013
Gloss by Ida Stewart Flycatcher: A Journal of Native Imagination, Winter 2011/2012
Weather by Dave LucasFlycatcher: A Journal of Native Imagination, Winter 2011/2012


Selected Posts from the Lost Daughters Blog

Contrary to #FlipTheScript, #ShoutYourAdoption Is All About Shame — 11/14/15
Thoughts on Family after a Decade in Reunion — 6/25/15
Dear Elton John, It’s Not All About You — 3/19/15
We Are Not Our Story: An Interview with Author and Adoptee Claire Hitchon — 2/28/15
Why Must We Search for Our Birth Parents? — 11/10/14
Adoptee Identity and the Fear of Losing Connections — 10/9/14
Adoptee Reactions to Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) in the Media (with Matthew Salesses) — 5/19/14
All I Want for Christmas Is My OBC — 12/22/13
The Lost Daughters Discuss The Child Catchers by Kathryn Joyce (five-part series) —  May 2013
Tell Me Who My Father Is — 3/9/13
The Connectedness of Motherhood — 2/18/13
NaBloPoMo Day 21: Biology — 11/21/12
NaBloPoMo Day 19: Adoptee Writers — 11/19/12
The Perfect Name — 9/23/12
When Grief Goes Unrecognized — 8/29/12


Profiles

Betsie Norris, “Betsie’s Quest: Origins of an Ohio Adoptee Rights Activist” — Lost Daughters, March 26, 2013