Family and Relationships Archives - Alison Garwood-Jones Alison Garwood-Jones

My Mother’s Spice Tins

Originally published in August 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Grief, Toronto Illustrators

Spice tins are one of the ways that orphaned adults are unknowingly connected.

My book is heading to the library

Originally published in July 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Grief

My new graphic novel, I Miss My Mommy: 150 Portraits of Orphaned Adults, will soon be available at the Toronto Public Library.

How I Learned to Promote My Graphic Novel

Originally published in July 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Grief

I’ve had to learn how to promote my graphic novel to reach my audience. It’s like building a house from the ground up.

Cutting Room Floor

Originally published in July 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Toronto Illustrators

This drawing never made it into my book, I Miss My Mommy: 150 Portraits of Orphaned Adults.

What is your grief story?

Originally published in June 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Grief, Pen Jar Productions

I Miss My Mommy takes you right to the heart of the five stages of grief through 150 portraits, some grim, some funny, but all relatable.

Father’s Day

Originally published in June 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Gift Ideas, Pen Jar Productions

My new book is called I Miss My Mommy, but fathers are just as integral to the story for orphaned adults. For Father’s Day, here’s a preview of how dads, now gone, weave in and out of the stories of their adult kids’ lives.

Summer Giveaway

Originally published in June 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Gift Ideas, Grief, Pen Jar Productions

Let’s start a conversation about grief. I’d love a short social media review of my book (up to 150 words written or filmed) from you:

Press for I Miss My Mommy

Originally published in June 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Grief, Pen Jar Productions

Anne Bokma’s compelling Mother’s Day column in today’s Hamilton Spectator shows how fraught Mother’s Day can be for adult orphans, particularly women. Bokma cites I Miss My Mommy by Alison Garwood-Jones as a resource for middle agers struggling with the five stages of grief.

The Queen of Death

Originally published in June 2024 in Blog, Books on Grief, Books on Parental Loss, Graphic Visualizer, Grief

I didn’t set out to create a book on grief … Just before the pandemic, I started drawing fictional portraits of people in different stages of grief and organizing them into a narrative arc.