Langley writer Zuri Scrivens didn’t waste any time when she heard Caitlin Press was looking for women’s stories about their breasts.
“I jumped at the opportunity,” she said about the chance to submit to Boobs: Women explore what it means to have breasts, a book edited by Ruth Daniell and recently released by the award-winning B.C. publisher.
Scrivens, a two-time breast cancer survivor, was eager to share her story and give hope to others who are going through a similar ordeal.
Her story, Pep Talk, is an honest, uplifting piece about the personal struggles and strengths that emerge with a breast cancer diagnosis. And she and fellow anthology contributor Lynn Easton, a former newspaper editor, will be reading from their boob stories at the Trees Organic on Granville Street in Vancouver this weekend.
“There was so much that I wanted to say about cancer and its impact on the lives of both women and men,” said Scrivens, who lives in Walnut Grove with her husband and five-year old year old son.
She has been writing most of her life, but decided to concentrate on writing about her breast cancer journey a couple of years ago and graduated from the SFU Writer’s Studio in 2015.
It was at the writer’s studio where her passion for writing and her passion for helping others combined to produce inspiring work like her piece in Boobs.
“One of the surprisingly positive outcomes of my cancer diagnosis is that sharing my story has not just benefited me – I have since spoken with other cancer patients for whom my story has resonated and given them hope as well,” she explained.
Scrivens has a successful business selling handmade knitwear online through Etsy and has been a major advocate for The Langley Forest School.
Now she’s squeezing in a few hours into her busy schedule each week to work on a memoir that explores her breast cancer experience and the shared bond of post-traumatic stress disorder between a husband and wife.
“Sharing my cancer story creates a whole other level of purpose that was missing from my life – and it feels good to know that I’m helping others in some way.”
