Join authors Sophia Kouidou-Giles, Terry Repak, and Glenda Goodrich at Annie Bloom’s Books as they read from their books and discuss the impact of place on memoir.

About the Authors and Their Books

Sophia Kouidou-Giles is an immigrant from Greece and published Sophia's Return: Uncovering My Mother's Past in September 2021, a memoir that unfolds in her natal home, Greece. Her forthcoming novel, An Unexpected Ally, (pub date October 3, 2023) is also set in Greece.

Seven-year-old Sophia watches her mother leave their Greek family home without a goodbye or explanation. She is raised by her grandmother and stepmother.

Her mother's departure becomes the child's worry stone. Decades later, when she returns to Greece from America, she uncovers a family story she had never been told.

Terry Repak, author of the memoir Circling Home: What I Learned by Living Elsewhere, (pub date September 12, 2023) describes how the settings in several African countries and in Europe were critical in reshaping her character and worldview.

When Terry and her husband moved to West Africa with two small children at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, she seized the opportunity to connect with people of other cultures and bear witness to the ravages of the disease. Circling Home chronicles the adventures and challenges of raising children to be global citizens and trying to find home in countries as diverse as the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Switzerland. Her memoir spotlights the complexity, struggles, and profound lessons at the heart of the expat journey. Read more.

Glenda Goodrich is a mixed media artist, art doula, SoulCollage® facilitator, and writer living in Salem, Oregon. As an artist, writer, friend, mother and grandmother, nature lover, and journeyer, she feels closest to her own soul when creating art, teaching her grandchildren to love the earth, and sharing art and SoulCollage® with others.

In her search to find healing and meaning in midlife, Glenda Goodrich undertakes a series of wilderness quests into the backcountry of Oregon, Washington, and California to discover what the natural world has to teach her about life, death, happiness, spirituality, and forgiveness. Solo Passage chronicles the sacred ceremonies that connected Goodrich to the land, wove her into nature's web, and transformed her from a woman who worked to please others into a woman who forged her own path. It is a brilliant collection of adventures—the touch of coyote fur, a snake's kiss, a ceremonial blood offering—and a profound reflection on the healing and restorative power of nature.

Thanks to Village Books, Bellingham, WA for a portion of this content (Sophia & Terry.) Thanks to Annie Bloom’s Books for authors and their books’ photos and Glenda’s content.

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