Irmgarde Brown

Sister Jane is awarded Best Books of 2021 INDIE by Kirkus Reviews
Harford County Living names Irmgarde Brown, Artist of the Week Jan 24, 2023

Irmgarde Brown

I am a retired librarian/manager, a long-time blogger, a photographer, a playwright and director, an active volunteer in the Havre de Grace arts community, a friend to the Village of Hope, Zambia, a student in the Living School for Action and Contemplation, and an Episcopalian after forty years in the non-denominational church. I am a widow, the mother of three adoptees from Eastern Europe (now grown), and a grandmother of two. Sister Jane is my first published novel while Sister Jane's Lenten Journal is novella that overlaps Sister Jane by 40 pages and ends on the same day. Sister Jane's Lenten Journal begins on the first day of Covid in Washington state. And now, I am offering a true short story, The Blue Bicycle, for signing up to my mailing. 

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Doors and Liminal Space

Doors and Liminal Space
by Irmgarde Brown
The other day, a photographer friend posted a series of door photographs from around town on his Facebook page. They were all in black and white and very moving. I remembered then that I, too, have photographed doors over the years, but rarely with any deep meaning or conscious intent. Certainly, I must have intuited how they can symbolize possibilities or new beginnings. But up until recent years, I haven’t embraced their potential for deeper significance.

I have since learned that there is a moment in between as one passes through a door, leaving one place and entering the next. It’s called liminal space, a period of transition. It's a gap, and it can be physical (like a doorway), emotional (like a divorce or widowhood) or metaphorical (like a decision).

In the Silence

In the Silence
by Irmgarde Brown

What happens in the silence?

Back in my acting school days, we were often encouraged to dwell in the small silences between sentences—to not feel compelled to speak straight through, but to allow the character to think, to consider, to ruminate, if you will. And then going even further back, I remember a one-act play, actually a “sketch”, by the avant-garde playwright, Harold Pinter, in which silences were a key aspect. Of course, the two characters were both in midlife and I was in my twenties; what did I know of broken marriages and broken lives where silence reigned? That would come much later.

An Author Posse

An Author Posse
by Irmgarde Brown
My adult son has a group of friends he started with back in middle school. We call them the posse. They laugh together, they hang together, they support each other, and yes, they get in trouble together. I thought they’d split up after marriage, or parenthood, or girlfriends, or out-of-town jobs. But no, they’re still together after fifteen years. I’m looking for an author posse. Granted, I can write alone, but the rest of it? I need a gang.

The Path to Healing

The Path to Healing
by Irmgarde Brown
Certainly, Sister Jane (and its companion novella, Sister Jane’s Lenten Journal) examines healing in a variety of ways: physical, emotional, and spiritual. In the last several months, I have been struggling with another kind of pain that requires healing—organizational trauma.  

Opposite of Faith is Not Doubt, but Certitude

Opposite of Faith is Not Doubt, but Certitude
by Irmgarde Brown
Other people have known this. I just heard it for the first time last week at my Symposium as part of the School for Action and Contemplation. And once I heard it, I knew I needed to ponder it. At the time, I assumed the phrase was original to Richard Rohr, but a quick Google search seems to give Anne Lamott the attribution, although she uses the term, "certainty." Same thing. Although Rohr's use of "certitude" has more flair. All good. I like Lamott too.