On the latest podcast episode of Bookends with Mattea Roach, Toronto author Kate Gies shares her harrowing experiences and path to accepting her body through poignant vignettes that form her debut memoir, It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished.

Kate was born without her right ear and throughout her life, plastic surgeons vowed to make her "whole" and craft the appearance of an outer ear.

Undergoing 14 surgeries before the age of 13, many of which failed, left permanent scars for Kate — both physically and mentally. 

On how writing and sharing her story has helped her heal, Kate had this to say:

There are times when writing a story can actually be more damaging if you don't have the space and you don't have the meaning. But I knew I was always going to write this. Even as a kid, I knew I was going to write this. Even knowing that I'm going to write it was healing because I knew that this was not a senseless thing that happened. Parts of writing it were hard, but I have carried so much shame in my body. And I think that shame is so ubiquitous in our world and the one thing that shame cannot survive is sharing.

You can check out the interview here, as well as read an excerpt from the book!

Thank you for being here. 💚

For Deaf and Disabled artists: All of our services are free when you join and create a member's account on our directory here. If you’ve already done that, ignore this message!

For everyone else: Upgrade to a paid plan to receive member benefits and help us keep this going!

If you don't want to upgrade to paid but want to support us, you can send a one-time donation!

If you don't like getting daily emails from us, no hurt feelings, you can opt-out by scrolling to the bottom and clicking "manage subscription."