“THE VOICE of LOVE”
THE HISTORY of an AUTHOR MISSION
I choose, with consciousness and care, and authentic affection for my characters and readers, to write and speak in the voice of love.
This expression, “the voice of love,” is so deeply anchored in me that the only nonprofit charity I ever founded and led I named “The Voice of Love.”
The name itself came from a time at age sixteen when I performed in a musical revue and recited two poems. After one show, a gentleman of forty-seven accosted me in the milling crowd. After complimenting my performance, he told his companion:
“This girl, when she speaks, speaks with the voice of love.”
The Voice of Love, a project about how to interpret for refugees with histories of torture and war trauma, became a project in 2009 and a nonprofit (registered charity) from 2011 to 2015. From across the U.S., more than a hundred of us came together, pro bono, to develop training and resources on how to interpret for survivors of torture, war trauma and sexual violence.
These volunteers included national experts in torture treatment programs and interpreting, therapists, social workers, interpreters, refugees, interpreter trainers, university and college professors, curriculum developers, a PhD medical anthropologist and many more. They gave themselves unstintingly and lovingly to the project’s beautiful mission.
The Interpreter of Love Project was in fact inspired by The Voice of Love Project. The new project is both broader and more personal. It addresses trauma survivors, not interpreters, and is concerned with all forms of intense trauma.
But at their heart, both projects focus on the urgent need of survivors of extreme trauma to reclaim agency, voice and the human capacity for joy.