Join me at THE KY BOOK FAIR, this Saturday, Nov. 7th, Frankfort Convention Center, where I'll be signing The Unbreakable Child.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Blurb! Book of the Week! The Unbreakable Child Author Interview
The Unbreakable Child won Blurb! Book of the Week 10/2009 for blogtalkradio.com with Dr. Kent and Sally Shields Show NYC.
Kim will be on the show Friday, Oct. 2 2009 . To tune in live you may go to the official site of blogtalkradio.com .
Kim will be on the show Friday, Oct. 2 2009 . To tune in live you may go to the official site of blogtalkradio.com .
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Latest 10/09: Behind The Book Interviews: The Unbreakable Child.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Unbreakable Child Featured In Writer's Digest
THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD in the September 2009 issue, WRITER'S DIGEST, Writer’s Workbook feature, available at newsstands and online and in bookstores. ‘Master The Memoir Basics: 5 Essentials’ references Kim’s story as a wonderful model of how to craft a hopeful ending. “It’s a gut-wrenching book, but two things save it from being merely depressing… It delivers what the title promises…”"Excellent endorsement, and a helpful example to those in the throes of their own life’s story." --J.M. AuthorScoop
Cross Posted : AuthorScoop.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Father Thomas Doyle, J.C.D., C.A.D.C. Speaks About The Unbreakable Child, Kim Michele Richardson, July 2009
“Bad girls go to hell!” The Unbreakable Child, p. 24. So said Sister Charlie to three year old Kim, a “resident” at St. Thomas/St Vincent Orphan Asylum, situated in rural Anchorage, Kentucky. Kim didn’t have to become a bad girl nor did she have to wait. She was already in hell.The dissonance between the promises and preaching of the official Catholic Church and the horrors perpetrated against innocent children by some of its official representatives is far more than the average decent person can even imagine much less comprehend. Probably the worst experiences of these vicious and mind-bending horrors took place in orphanages founded and run by Catholic religious orders.
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The Unbreakable Child is the story of an innocent child who not only survived her lengthy sojourn in this earth-bound hell, but emerged from it unbroken, destined to go on and accomplish the near-impossible. She and forty-four other survivors of the hell created by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth found the courage and tenacity to stand up to the mighty institution of the Roman Catholic Church, demanding that the secret world of torture, abuses and spiritual assault be exposed. They demanded justice and in so doing they unknowingly entered the final chapter of their abuse.
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One would think that any organization, especially a Christian Church, would recoil in shock to learn that one of its own institutions, dedicated to the care of innocent children, was in fact submitting them to systematized abuse of unimaginable dimensions. Not so the official Catholic Church, in reality a monarchy the “leaders” of which have put the victims of their own abusive violence through additional re-victimization when faced with their demands for justice. Kim and her fellow survivors of the Church’s hell in rural Kentucky learned this. Her riveting tale of torture and abuse does not end with her liberation from the orphan asylum/gulag. She painfully takes the reader through her reactions to the impersonal and clearly unsympathetic legal process.
The Unbreakable Child is a true story that defies the comfortable yet unreal assumptions that the Catholic Church always means what it preaches and truly is a haven for those who are suffering, afraid and alone. It is a story of horror that justifies the saying that “truth is stranger than fiction.” The truth of Kim’s story goes beyond what one can imagine about life behind the door of the refuge for the innocent children left there. It is also a story of hope. Not only did Kim Michele Richardson (and forty-four others) win a legal case, but she and they proved that the limits of human courage cannot be fathomed nor can the power of such courage ever be second-guessed. Kim took on the vast and mighty kingdom of the Catholic Church and, in spite of its power, wealth and influence, won. Why? Because she and her fellow survivors had something sorely lacking in those who perpetrated the horrors of St. Thomas/St. Vincent.....they had truth.
A final comment. This book also introduces the attorney who guided Kim and the others through the courts as they painstakingly sought justice. William McMurry may have initially viewed this case as another legal challenge, albeit a daunting one, but he soon became more than a lawyer. He became what the official Church never provided its own victims...a compassionate friend, a staunch advocate and above all, a champion for justice.
The dark side of the Catholic Church, abuses by priests, was first exposed to the public twenty five years ago. The Unbreakable Child adds an even more mind and soul numbing dimension to this revelation, that of the physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual abuse perpetrated on countless innocent children hidden behind the walls of the very institutions that promised them a home.
`
This book should be required reading for the church’s bishops and religious superiors who continue to distance themselves from the harsh reality of the harm inflicted and covered up by their organization. It should also be read by the countless lay people who simply refuse to believe that such nightmares are made real.
`
The Unbreakable Child is a graphically true story of a girl who thought she was abandoned by God but in reality was saved by her own strength and courage.
--Father Thomas Doyle, JCD, CADC; is a Canon lawyer who has previously been on the payroll of the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC. Since the 1980s Father Doyle has plied his legal expertise to the plight of clergy-abuse victims and subsequently, he has devoted his life to testifying as an expert witness in cases through the US and beyond.
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He received the Cavallo Award for Moral Courage in 1992, the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful in 2002, and the Isaac Hecker Award from the Paulist Fathers in 2003.
`
In 2003 Doyle, a priest in the Dominican Order for the past 39 years, received an official commendation from the Order for his “prophetic work in drawing attention to clergy abuse and for advocating the rights of victims and abusers.”
`
Over the past 20 years Doyle has interviewed more than 2,000 survivors of clergy abuse, written seven books, developed policies and procedures for dealing with clergy abuse for dioceses in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, testified in support of child protection laws before state legislatures, and served as an expert witness in trials of alleged abuse in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Israel and the U.K.
One would think that any organization, especially a Christian Church, would recoil in shock to learn that one of its own institutions, dedicated to the care of innocent children, was in fact submitting them to systematized abuse of unimaginable dimensions. Not so the official Catholic Church, in reality a monarchy the “leaders” of which have put the victims of their own abusive violence through additional re-victimization when faced with their demands for justice. Kim and her fellow survivors of the Church’s hell in rural Kentucky learned this. Her riveting tale of torture and abuse does not end with her liberation from the orphan asylum/gulag. She painfully takes the reader through her reactions to the impersonal and clearly unsympathetic legal process.
The Unbreakable Child is a true story that defies the comfortable yet unreal assumptions that the Catholic Church always means what it preaches and truly is a haven for those who are suffering, afraid and alone. It is a story of horror that justifies the saying that “truth is stranger than fiction.” The truth of Kim’s story goes beyond what one can imagine about life behind the door of the refuge for the innocent children left there. It is also a story of hope. Not only did Kim Michele Richardson (and forty-four others) win a legal case, but she and they proved that the limits of human courage cannot be fathomed nor can the power of such courage ever be second-guessed. Kim took on the vast and mighty kingdom of the Catholic Church and, in spite of its power, wealth and influence, won. Why? Because she and her fellow survivors had something sorely lacking in those who perpetrated the horrors of St. Thomas/St. Vincent.....they had truth.
A final comment. This book also introduces the attorney who guided Kim and the others through the courts as they painstakingly sought justice. William McMurry may have initially viewed this case as another legal challenge, albeit a daunting one, but he soon became more than a lawyer. He became what the official Church never provided its own victims...a compassionate friend, a staunch advocate and above all, a champion for justice.
The dark side of the Catholic Church, abuses by priests, was first exposed to the public twenty five years ago. The Unbreakable Child adds an even more mind and soul numbing dimension to this revelation, that of the physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual abuse perpetrated on countless innocent children hidden behind the walls of the very institutions that promised them a home.
`
This book should be required reading for the church’s bishops and religious superiors who continue to distance themselves from the harsh reality of the harm inflicted and covered up by their organization. It should also be read by the countless lay people who simply refuse to believe that such nightmares are made real.
`
The Unbreakable Child is a graphically true story of a girl who thought she was abandoned by God but in reality was saved by her own strength and courage.
--Father Thomas Doyle, JCD, CADC; is a Canon lawyer who has previously been on the payroll of the Vatican Embassy in Washington DC. Since the 1980s Father Doyle has plied his legal expertise to the plight of clergy-abuse victims and subsequently, he has devoted his life to testifying as an expert witness in cases through the US and beyond.
`
He received the Cavallo Award for Moral Courage in 1992, the Priest of Integrity Award from Voice of the Faithful in 2002, and the Isaac Hecker Award from the Paulist Fathers in 2003.
`
In 2003 Doyle, a priest in the Dominican Order for the past 39 years, received an official commendation from the Order for his “prophetic work in drawing attention to clergy abuse and for advocating the rights of victims and abusers.”
`
Over the past 20 years Doyle has interviewed more than 2,000 survivors of clergy abuse, written seven books, developed policies and procedures for dealing with clergy abuse for dioceses in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, testified in support of child protection laws before state legislatures, and served as an expert witness in trials of alleged abuse in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Israel and the U.K.
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THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD BOOK TRAILER
THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD BOOK TRAILER
produced by Kunati, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Summer Snaps, The Unbreakable Child, ALA 2009 Conf
Dropping in to fill you in and to dust away the ghost poo and to say: I hope you are having a great summer!
The ALA was great. 29,000 attended reports PW. I signed a hundred copies of The Unbreakable Child in about an hour. A few hiccups but nothing major.
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I packed miss-matched heels.
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So how hard is it to find a Chicago shoe store in x amount of time? Heh, don't. even. ask. I arrived at the convention center and was directed to the wrong distributor/publishing group. I was chatting it up with Ingram Pearson Group INSTEAD of IPG. EEP! Ingram was great and they led dragged me to my booth. I was three minutes late and a line had formed.
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Immediately got down to business. The librarians and educators were awesome! And, I found many teens are reaching for my book. They were saHweet and adorable. IPG was wonderful and helpful!
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Met my purgy sis. Nice.
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Met a cool WP reporter. Nice.
Met a cool WP reporter. Nice.
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Learned a lot. Nice.
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Met Neil Gaiman. SahWeet! Along with his throng of thousands.
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Friend, Chi baby, took me to Carmines. We had a pasta dish, loaded with delicious seafood: red snapper, salmon, octopus and shrimp. Yummers! And Chi baby had a special dessert: killer chocolate with a wicked-good raspberry sauce, delivered afterward to mark my ALA event. :smoooches to Chi baby:
Friend, Chi baby, took me to Carmines. We had a pasta dish, loaded with delicious seafood: red snapper, salmon, octopus and shrimp. Yummers! And Chi baby had a special dessert: killer chocolate with a wicked-good raspberry sauce, delivered afterward to mark my ALA event. :smoooches to Chi baby:
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I've been able to give a little time to Habitat for Humanity. I came in on the final phase of this lovely house which was donated. It was gutted out, and now houses a single mum, her mum, and her two children. read more
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I've also been filling boxes (lots) for a group home for troubled teens, which I've promised. There are 158 teens who desperately need and require many many teen items. And many of the charities are suffering due to our recession. So, I've been trying to be creative by filling the boxes with journals, teen books, lipstick, hair accessories etc. I've met the teens and they are smart--beautiful, and although they have been severely abused, they are thriving in a caring environment. They love to knit, garden, wear make-up, read and just be a teen. They sew and handcraft beautiful blankets, then donate them to the mission houses, amongst but a few. There is a small 'boutique' on the grounds. The teens earn pretend money, and then are allowed to go into the 'boutique' where they can shop and purchase donated items. The shop is sorely lacking.
The Unbreakable Child Trailer
Friday, July 17, 2009
PBS Interview KET KY ONE To ONE
PBS KET TV With Bill Goodman interview, Kim Michele Richardson, The Unbreakable Child
WHAS TV NEWS In Depth Interview with Rachel Platt April, 2009: Here
WHAS TV NEWS STORY : July 30, 2009: Here
WAVE TV NEWS STORY: September 8, 2009 Here
WAVE TV NEWS STORY: September 8, 2009 VIDEO HERE
WHAS TV NEWS In Depth Interview with Rachel Platt April, 2009: Here
WHAS TV NEWS STORY : July 30, 2009: Here
WAVE TV NEWS STORY: September 8, 2009 Here
WAVE TV NEWS STORY: September 8, 2009 VIDEO HERE
Monday, June 22, 2009
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