The Light Streamed Beneath It

“This is an embodied story of love, loss and recovery — raw, candid and filled with a sense of awe at human resilience.” — Shelf Awareness“Deeply moving and beautifully told, The Light Streamed Beneath It manages the remarkable: to share an impossibly sad story with vulnerability and tenderness while also carrying us through the pain with care and grace — and even weaving in joy, desire, and utter aliveness along the way. Shawn Hitchins’s path of rebuilding trust in life after absolute heartbreak will stay with me always.” — Christa Couture, author of How to Lose Everything“Shawn Hitchins’s writing is generous, beautiful, and fearless in its authenticity; it so warmly embraces love and all that it means to experience it. Each page of The Light Streamed Beneath It is a celebration of life and the complexity of humanity, assuring every reader that we’re not alone in our darkness or loss. Frankly, it is one of the most important books that I’ve read.” — Anne T. Donahue, author of Nobody Cares“In his moving and eloquent memoir, Shawn Hitchins beautifully explores the messiness of our human lives, and reminds us not to mourn what we lose but to celebrate what we gain. While grief is inevitable in every life, The Light Streamed Beneath It serves as a radiant testament that our strongest armour is an open and unafraid heart.” — Brian Francis, author of Fruit and Missed Connections“A timely story so human, so beautiful, so bravely told with heart and humour.” — Rosie O’Donnell“The Light Streamed Beneath It offers a viscerally honest retelling of aftermath, all those feelings upon feelings still fresh in memory, all the pain still very much present in the author’s day-to-day life. Yet despite being a book about death, this memoir vibrates with life, love, and desire, all while beautifully honouring those who are gone, the gifts they have given, and the community they have left behind.” — Open Book“An astoundingly beautiful book that offers readers a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of resilience that ultimately celebrates life — even if it does so in the shadow of insurmountable loss.” — CBC Arts“Hitchins pursues self-knowledge, growth and healing in a vulnerable memoir for any reader who has experienced loss.” — Shelf Awareness“Hitchins breathes so much life into a book about death, and he gives both partners second lives through honest and loving depictions of his time with them.” — Xtra Magazine“The Light Streamed Beneath It represents exactly the kind of queer transformation story Hitchins wanted it to be — a frank accounting of pain alongside a valediction for love and community.” — That Shakespearean Rag

Shawn Hitchins is the author of A Brief History of Oversharing (ECW, 2017). His one-man show Ginger Nation toured extensively before being filmed in concert. Hitchins is an award-winning entertainer, writer, personality, and creator of live performance. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he splits himself between Eastern and Pacific time zones.

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