Beth Goobie says she achieved near pariah status in 1994, after her first poetry collection Scars of Light was published.
It illustrated the sexual, physical and mental abuse she’d endured as a child.
“People avoided me. It was pretty much a shun,” said Goobie, who grew up in Guelph, Ont., but now lives in Saskatoon.
“There were one or two friends who stuck with me.”
Twenty-three years later, Breathing at Dusk is a response to that collection and has received a “very different” reaction.
“The response has been really positive and supportive,” said Goobie, who will read from her new book at an event in Regina on Thursday evening.
In the era of #MeToo, survivors of sexual assault and abuse are increasingly willing to discuss their experiences.
Goobie has never shied away from the subject, even before she began to recall repressed childhood memories as a 34-year-old in 1993.
She has published roughly two dozen books for children and teens, many of which focus on physical and sexual abuse.
“I just wrote what came out, and what came out … was stories about girls who are being raped and physically abused,” said Goobie, who began writing when she was 30.
Her most recent novel, The Pain Eater, is about a girl who was gang raped.
She toured the award-winning book in schools across Manitoba in May as part of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week.
“All the kids were really respectful,” said Goobie. “And all the librarians and teachers really loved it; they kept saying, ‘This is exactly what we want.’ ”
Two decades ago, the response wasn’t so warm.
“I got no school invitations,” said Goobie.
However, “The books were welcomed into the schools even though I was not; that was breaking ground.”
Her 1994 novel Sticks and Stones, about girls forming a “slut club” after being called sluts, sold 45,000 copies in North America and has been translated into other languages.
“That means hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of teenagers have read that book,” said Goobie.
“It hasn’t changed the entire world, but it’s part of what’s changing the way people are thinking, and so I’m very proud of that.
“I don’t think I’m the only one doing this; there are many other people as well, but I have been contributing to that change.”
It’s a gradual change, said Goobie: “You get a book in a kid’s hand and they read it, and 10 (or) 15 years later, they’re the ones teaching the school.”
Prior to becoming an author, Goobie worked with young offenders, many of whom she said experienced abuse.
For fellow survivors of abuse, she has these words: “Somebody else created that mess in you, and that’s not fair. But the fact is, you’re the one that has to clean it up and you’re the only one who can clean it up.”
Through Breathing at Dusk, she said she “wanted to let people know that full recovery is possible,” and that her life is now “cohesive and full of joy.”
Goobie will read at Thursday’s Vertigo Series at Crave, 1925 Victoria Ave., starting at 7:30 p.m.
Other guests are author Grant Lawrence and classical guitarist Ramses Calderon. Emily Doak and Dave Margoshes will read from Rick Hillis’ work as well.
