Rachel Naomi Remen and other authors offer "Healing Words" on March 29 to benefit UCSF Breast Care C

Writers and poets will present work that emerged from their experience of facing cancer and illness at “Healing Words,” a fundraiser for the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center on Saturday, March 29.

The event will be held from noon until 5 pm. at the UCSF Laurel Heights Conference Center, 3333 California Street in San Francisco.
Among the featured authors are UCSF Family and Community Medicine Professor Rachel Naomi Remen (Kitchen Table Wisdom, My Grandfather’s Blessings), Laura Fraser (Italian Affair), Autumn Stephens (Wild Women series) and San Francisco Poet Laureate Janice Mirikitani, who will read in honor of her late friend, poet June Jordan.

Author Elizabeth Fishel (Sisters, Reunion) will moderate the program.  A number of new writers will share their own healing stories. Authors will be available for book signings and questions, and there will be a selection of books for sale.

Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, director of the Breast Care Center, will introduce the program with an update on current cancer research. “I am inspired by these remarkable women who have faced the challenge of illness and have turned their struggle into words and images that uplift us all,” she said.

Participants will have the opportunity to join a hands-on art project sponsored by “Art for Recovery,” an art therapy program in which many breast cancer patients take part. Breast cancer quilts will be on display. Refreshments and live music will also be offered.  Performance artist Wanna Wright, a cancer survivor and advocate, will close the event.

Admission to “Healing Words” is free.  Donations to benefit research at the Breast Care Center will be accepted. For more information about the event or to participate as a volunteer or supporter, contact Sarah Paris at (415) 885-7323 or email [email protected]

The Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, part of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer center, is specifically designed to meet the complex needs of patients with breast cancer. The Cancer Center is dedicated to basic science research into the causes and events of cancer’s progression; clinical research to translate new knowledge into viable treatments; sensitive, state-of-the-art patient care; and programs in epidemiology, prevention, and cancer control.

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