Mark Nepo on his new book Seven Thousand Ways to Listen
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Mark Nepo’s body of work explores leaning into life and holding nothing back. Mark is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over thirty years, and taught at the State University of New York at Albany for eighteen years. Mark is currently available for speaking engagements (including giving readings, keynotes, lectures, workshops, and retreats).
In 1987, Mark was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. The heart of that journey and its aftermath has greatly informed his work. Of his journey since then, he says, “What I have had to face are the great ordinary things that all of us have to face: the prospect of dying without having truly lived, and the prospect of living without having truly loved. And the joy of discovering this with others.” As a result, Mark is committed to the usefulness of daily inner life. Through writing and teaching, he remains devoted to the life of inner transformation and relationship.
Mark’s work is deep yet accessible because his wisdom is that of one whose close brush with death has enabled a rich understanding of the power of the human Soul. He does not discount our flaws, our failings, our human weaknesses. On the contrary, his great tenderness for our imperfections is precisely what makes his readers feel so held—both in our human capacity and in our interconnectedness with one another.
In 2010, Mark’s The Book of Awakening was chosen by Oprah for her Ultimate Favorite Things show. “Mark Nepo is a poet,” Oprah said. “He’s an author and a philosopher and has been through two different cancers. So when he writes, he writes purely from the heart.”
Oprah was given The Book of Awakening as a birthday gift and says she does one lesson from the book every morning. “If we all do it together, we can begin to open our hearts, change the world and begin to have the life you want by being present to the life you have now,” Oprah says.
Oprah shares a favorite passage from The Book of Awakening
Mark on The Book of Awakening
Mark on Good Morning America (January 2011)
MARK’S BOOKS
Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred
Forthcoming in October 2012 from Simon & Schuster
See full information page and praise on this title.
As Far As the Heart Can See: Stories to Illuminate the Soul
See full information page and praise on this title.
The Book of Awakening
This book was a finalist for the 2000 Books for a Better Life Award and was cited by Spirituality & Health Magazine as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2000. The Book of Awakening hit #1 on The New York Times bestseller list in January 2011.
The Exquisite Risk
This book was cited as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005 by Spirituality & Health Magazine, which called it “one of the best books we’ve ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life.”
Deepening the American Dream: Reflections on the Inner Life and Spirit of Democracy
Acre of Light (now out of print) is available as an audiotape from Parabola under the title “Inside the Miracle”)
God, the Maker of the Bed, and the Painter
Mark’s work has been translated into twenty languages, including French, Portuguese, Japanese, and Danish.
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