Take the Fruit: An Anthology of Religious Trauma, Reverse Service and Book Release Celebration, Sunday, December 15, 2024, 2pm-4pm

Join us for an afternoon of connection, storytelling, and healing. On Sunday, December 15th, we’ll gather at Counterpath in Denver to celebrate the release of Take the Fruit: An Anthology of Religious Trauma—an event designed to reclaim, reframe, and heal from the wounds of religious trauma, together. 

What to Expect:

• A book release celebration for Take the Fruit with contributions from brave voices sharing their stories.
• Readings from the anthology, where each word carries weight and purpose, opening space for healing through shared experience.
• A reclaiming of religious symbols and rituals—turning the un-Baptism and the giving plate (instead of a collection plate) into acts of healing and empowerment.
• An altar call for a reverse Baptism lead by literary sex siren and Denver-based writer, Stina French.
• Song and ritual guided by co-editor, teacher, and the Queen of Fierce words; author Erica Hoffmeister.
• A ceremony led by the High Priestess of Ceremonies, author, death worker, and community organizer, Hillary Leftwich, weaving together the sacred and the transformative.

This is not just a book launch—it’s a reclamation of the words, symbols, and rituals that have shaped us. It’s a chance to heal through shared stories, reclaiming the power of community and ceremony to turn trauma into resilience. Every voice is welcome, and everyone’s experience matters.

Can’t make it in person? No worries—you can still join the experience. Order your copy of Take the Fruit from the Great British Bookshop and connect with us online. We’re building a community that stretches far beyond the room at Counterpath.

Stay Connected:

• Instagram: @listen2yourskin
• Facebook: Take The Fruit Anthology | Listen to Your Skin Reading Series

We can’t wait to share this powerful afternoon with you—whether in person or in spirit. Come be part of a transformative, healing experience that centers everyone’s voice and welcomes everyone.

BLURBS:

“In this collection of testimonies, themes of pathology and violence intertwine, shaping sins into psalms of suffering and salvation.” Hillary Leftwich, author of _Aura_ and _Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How To Knock_

Take the Fruit is a literary ensemble of survivors, refugees from the land of dogmatic righteousness. It is a collection for anyone who grew up questioning the systems that were forced upon them, and fought for the right to discover their own path. It is through our shared experiences that we can all find solace and community. Books like this make the world a safer place.

-Kona Morris, Writer and Founder of Godless Comics

Take the Fruit is a book of new verses. Still meant to carry you through, these incredible passages give way to THE passage. Of true life. True love. True acceptance. A panoramic view of religious entanglement and what it means to be free—or moreso what it is to dream more freely, even if some of us aren’t there yet—is just the rainbow our societal sh*tstorm needs. Take the fruit. Taste new definitions. You will toast the enemy of shame when you find yourself in the garden, naked.

—Ahja Fox, Aurora Poet Laureate

“Every contribution to this book is a work of art. As you read you are forced think and feel, to step into the shoes of another human, to experience confusion and discomfort and elation and liberation, to ponder paradoxes and unanswerable questions and injustice and embodiment and mortality. If there is a moral to the entire collection, perhaps it is found in coeditor Stina French’s words: “Baptize yourself.” But rather than offer readers a simple moral, Take the Fruit invites us simply to be human, to share in others’ humanity, and to accept our own, with all its limitations and flaws and potential for pleasure, without shame. God was ultimately the villain in the Garden of Eden. Eve was right to take the fruit.” 

—Chrissy Stroop, author and editor of Empty The Pews

ORDERING INFO:

Take The Fruit: An Anthology Of Religious Trauma is online and ready to be ordered!

If you or anyone you know and love has been affected by high-control religion, this book is for you. 

FACEBOOK EVENT LINK: 

Press IG: listen2yourskin