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What enabled Stephen Policoff, an award winning novelist, to carry on
in the wake of the deaths of both his wife and daughter.
When Stephen Policoff's young daughter Anna was diagnosed with a rare, fatal illness, he and his wife, Kate, refused to surrender to despair. They built a family—adopting a second daughter, Jane—and found joy in music, friendship, and love, even as Anna's health declined. Then tragedy struck again: Kate was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, leaving Stephen to raise both girls alone.
A Ribbon for Your Hair is a profoundly moving memoir of resilience, medical mystery, and the enduring power of love in the face of unthinkable loss.
How do you go on when your world shatters—twice?
When Stephen Policoff's adopted daughter Anna was four, a freak accident sent her to the ER at Manhattan's Saint Vincent Hospital. Within hours, he and his wife, Kate, were reeling from two blows: first, a false accusation of child abuse, and then the shocking news that Anna had a mysteriously enlarged liver and spleen.
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About Stephen Policoff
Stephen Policoff's first novel, Beautiful Somewhere Else, won the James Jones Award and was published by Carroll & Graf in 2004. His second novel, Come Away, won the Dzanc Award and was published by Dzanc Books in 2014. His third novel, Dangerous Blues, was published in 2022 by Flexible Press. He is clinical professor of writing in Liberal Studies at NYU. Several pieces of this memoir were first published in december, Riddlebird, Entropy Literary Journal, and Oyster River Pages. A section on Anna's joyous experience in music therapy won the Fish Short Memoir Award in 2012, and subsequently appeared on music therapy websites around the world.
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Upcoming Events
TUESDAY MARCH 31, 6:30 - 8PM
The Lofty Pigeon Books
743 Church Avenue, Brooklyn, NYC
with Susan Choi as moderator
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WEDNESDAY APRIL 8th, 6 - 8PM
Von Bar
3 Bleecker Street near Bowery, NYC
with Stacy Horn as moderator
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WEDNESDAY APRIL 15th, 7PM (6 PM CST)
Deep Vellum Books
with Riley Rennhack as moderator - Virtual Event
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TUESDAY JUNE 16th, 5:30 - 7PM
Tompkins Square Library
331 East 10th Street, NYC
Panel with Elizabeth Benedict and Ann Gorewitz