Banged-Up Heart Selected by Tucson Festival of Books

One of the five or six biggest book fairs in the world is the Tucson Festival of Books, which attracts 100,000 visitors over a single weekend in March. The festival, held on the beautiful campus of the University of Arizona, is FREE. For a third year in a row, the New Mexico Book Association will have a booth on the campus mall, displaying member author books.
Last year, someone who visited the NMBA booth told me she had presented her book in the Indie Author Pavilion. You might ask, what is an Indie author? An Indie author is someone whose book is published by an independent (or “indie”) publisher that is not part of a large corporation or conglomerate, like the Big Five publishing houses: Penguin/Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan. “Keep your eye on the festival website for an announcement asking indie authors to submit their books for consideration,” she said. I did. And in October I submitted Banged-Up Heart. If the festival had a panel on grief and resilience, I thought I might have a chance to participate. Later, an author friend who lives in Tucson told me, “The Festival likes recently published books.” I swallowed my disappointment, as Banged-Up Heart would be seven years old in 2024.
In December, I received a “thank you for submitting your book” followed by “we had a fantastic response from indie authors with over 175 books submitted for review. With so many books, our team had to make some very hard choices regarding the authors to invite to represent Indie Authors at the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books.” I thought they were letting me down gently and was not prepared to read at the end of the second paragraph: “Congratulations, your book has been selected to participate in the Festival.”

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I will be hosted in the Indie Author Pavilion for Adult Fiction and Nonfiction on Sunday, March 10th for three hours, 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. One of twenty authors showcasing our books, I look forward to discussing my memoir with anyone who’s interested. Of course, I’ll have copies to sign. If you plan to be in Tucson for the Festival, be sure to look for me. To find me listed in the Festival program, Google 2024 Tucson festival of Books, click on Authors and then click Indie Authors. I’m in the middle of the pack. Before my stint in the Indie Pavilion on March 10th, I’ll be in the NMBA booth on Saturday, March 9th, and Sunday morning.
 
Praise for Banged-Up Heart:
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Melis’ stirring story is beautifully told, both philosophically reflective and emotionally poignant. Her account is also remarkably candid. Despite the heartbreaking losses she endured, she manages to produce a life-affirming memoir detailing personal triumph.
  -Kirkus Reviews
 
An intimate look at the power of love, filled with honesty and passion. Banged-Up Heart is the best memoir I’ve read this year. Bravo.
  -Anne Hillerman, New York Times best-selling author of The Way of the Bear and soon-to-be-released Lost Birds
 
Shirley Melis tells a love story filled with joy, heartache, and shocking honesty that makes Banged-Up Heart a page-turner.
  -Sally Armstrong, author of Uprising:  A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother’s Daughter
 
Banged-Up Heart invites us into an intimate, compelling story of deep love, one found unexpectedly after a painful time of raw widowhood. In meticulous detail, Shirley Melis crafts an uplifting testament to her own persisting determination in the face of devastating tragedy. Her courage to open herself again despite this confrontation with double loss is a shining example of human resilience at its most transcendent.
  -Barclay Braden, PhD, psychologist, and author of Faith at Hand: Finding My Way to Depth Journaling   
 
In Banged-Up Heart, Shirley Melis lays bare the heartbreak of being widowed twice in four years. But that’s just the start. Her candor and insights, delivered in crisp, unsentimental prose, will pull you into this inspiring account of love, loss, and resilience.
  -Patricia Galagan, fine-art photographer, writer, and author of Fire Ghosts

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