Meekings publishes new book exploring grief, memory, and the art of writing
November 16, 2025
"Wonder and Loss" is the latest contribution to Sam Meekings’s body of work, offering an exploration of how writing can transform experiences of grief into deeper understanding
Wonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief, a new nonfiction book by Sam Meekings, associate professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar, has been published by Bloomsbury.
In this innovative blend of memoir and writing guide, Meekings draws on his personal experience of losing his younger brother to explore how writing can serve as a means of healing, remembrance, and self-discovery. Combining deeply personal reflection with craft-based insights, the book invites readers to write alongside the author, offering practical tools, strategies, and prompts for those seeking to navigate grief through creative expression.
In this innovative blend of memoir and writing guide, Meekings draws on his personal experience of losing his younger brother to explore how writing can serve as a means of healing, remembrance, and self-discovery. Combining deeply personal reflection with craft-based insights, the book invites readers to write alongside the author, offering practical tools, strategies, and prompts for those seeking to navigate grief through creative expression.
“Writing about grief is not only about memorializing those we’ve lost, but also about understanding how their absence reshapes us — and how writing can help us find our way through that transformation.”
- Sam Meekings, associate professor in residence
The book covers four interconnected parts that guide readers through the emotional and creative dimensions of grief and recovery. The first part, Writing as Discovery, explores how storytelling can illuminate the hidden layers of emotion and memory. In the second part, Writing as Transformation, Meekings examines how writing can turn pain into understanding, weaving together themes of forgiveness, metaphor, and acceptance.
The third part, Writing as Renewal, encourages readers to rediscover imagination and meaning through myth, memory, and dream, reconnecting with creativity as a force for resilience and renewal. The final part, Writing as Magic, focuses on storytelling as an act of remembrance and creation, exploring how language can summon beauty and understanding from grief.
The third part, Writing as Renewal, encourages readers to rediscover imagination and meaning through myth, memory, and dream, reconnecting with creativity as a force for resilience and renewal. The final part, Writing as Magic, focuses on storytelling as an act of remembrance and creation, exploring how language can summon beauty and understanding from grief.
“'Wonder and Loss' is more than a memoir; it combines literary theory, insights from neuroscience and psychology, and Sam’s lived experience to present a holistic and compassionate approach to writing about grief. It is both a moving meditation on love and loss and a practical guide for anyone seeking to transform memory into meaning through the written word”
- Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar
Meekings is an internationally renowned poet and novelist, and a scholar of creative practices and processes, with a special focus on digital and trauma-informed creative writing. Known for his work at the intersection of literature, creativity, and trauma, he has long explored how stories shape human experience. Wonder and Loss is the latest addition to his creative works, which include The Afterlives of Doctor Gachet, Under Fishbone Clouds, The Book of Crows, and The Bestiary, as well as several other novels and co-edited volumes.
Wonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief is now available through Bloomsbury. For more information, click here.
Wonder and Loss: A Practical Memoir for Writing about Grief is now available through Bloomsbury. For more information, click here.
