Baltimore, MD, March 27, 2024— Apprentice House Press is thrilled to announce that its 2023 release “LOVE IN THE ARCHIVES: A Patchwork of True Stories about Suicide Loss” by Eileen Vorbach Collins has been selected as a finalist for Foreword’s 2023 Indies Book of the Year Awards. Foreword is dedicated to showcasing outstanding talent and skill from universities and independent publishers. Competing against 2,400 entries in 55 genres, Vorbach-Collin’s novel was chosen to move forward in the grief/grieving category. The winners, selected by teams of librarian and bookseller judges nationwide, will be announced in June 2024.
Love in the Archives is a collection narrative essays linked through themes of surviving suicide loss, Judaism, interfaith marriage, and mental illness. Through a patchwork of stories, Eileen walks us through the grief and healing from suicide loss after her fifteen-year-old daughter Lydia ends her life. Discovering solace in a group of fellow bereaved parents, Eileen finds a community who understand her sorrows in ways others cannot comprehend. Eventually Eileen is able to share her memories of her daughter, even finding moments of joy along the grieving process. The selected work, “LOVE IN THE ARCHIVES: A Patchwork of True Stories about Suicide Loss” can be found for purchase in our bookshop. Read the full list of Foreword Indie Finalists here.
Eileen Vorbach Collins’ award-winning essays have been widely published. A Baltimore native, she holds a degree in nursing from the University of Maryland and a masters in pastoral care from Loyola. Eileen began writing as a way to process her grief after her daughter’s suicide. Her essays uniquely fuse pathos with joy and everyday subjects with the big questions, while holding space for humor. Eileen lives in North Carolina with her husband, Hugh, and Sugar, possibly the world’s oldest living Labrador.
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About Apprentice House Press
Apprentice House is the nation’s first entirely student-managed book publisher. Students at Loyola University Maryland are responsible for every aspect of the publishing process, from acquisitions to design and publication of every book. Our mission is, first and foremost, to educate students about the book publishing process. Therefore, students in these courses serve as staff in Apprentice House’s acquisitions, design, and marketing departments, respectively. After students leave the courses, AH professors and AH student staff sustain the on-going operation of the company and market its frontlist and backlist titles.
