Waiting Room Reader

Commitment to community is essential to CavanKerry’s mission as a not-for-profit publisher. Dedicated to the written word and to outreach programs that bring the art of writing to diverse communities, CavanKerry now offers The Waiting Room Reader to hospitals and doctors’ offices.

The Waiting Room Reader is a showcase of poetry and prose selected from CavanKerry Press authors, edited as one attractive handsome volume given free of charge to hospitals and doctors to then distribute to their patients, their families and their loved ones. The first edition, Stories to Keep You Company, is complete and available for selected locations.

The Reader is part of CavanKerry's GiftBooks outreach initiative which offers free books to underserved communities and is an extension of CavanKerry's LaurelBooks: Literature of Illness and Disability imprint co-sponsored by The Arnold P. Gold Foundation for the Advancement of Humanism in Medicine. Both organizations are deeply grateful to The Liana Foundation for its generous support of this venture. 

An excerpt from the book's introductory letter:
Like you, we too have been patients in waiting rooms of doctors' offices and hospitals. Sometimes for routine care; other times for critical care. We too have waited for X-rays or our annual physical. We too have undergone surgeries and waited long hours alone while a loved one –somewhere beyond our reach—drifted in and out of surgery-induced sleep. In all cases, the wait seemed endless. We've needed patience; we've needed laughter; sometimes we've needed hope. We've wished we had company. We thought you might need these too.

In that spirit, we have gathered a collection of stories and thoughts that focus on life's gifts, everyday gifts and experiences: love and family, food and home, work and play, dreams and the earth. Each piece is short –a page or two at most, some a few lines to read in any order. So start anyplace; read one, read two, read them all. Hopefully, your wait will seem shorter.