Book Realities

Join Ian Hooper in discussion with Lee Gaitan, a contributor to the Book Reality anthology, Forgiveness is the Hardest Thing.

In 2020, US-based author, Rica Keenum, suggested the possibility of an anthology based on the topic of Forgiveness. As the world ground to a halt under the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic the idea took a back seat, but in 2021, during the prolonged lockdowns, twenty-one women from across four continents were invited to write about their experiences of forgiveness through the medium of poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. The result is an anthology that lays bare the shared need to forgive or to be forgiven. Featuring the writing of multiple-award winning authors, hailing from Las Vegas to Florida, from South Africa to Northern Ireland and from near Perth in Scotland to near Perth in Western Australia, Forgiveness is the Hardest Thing is an inspiring collection to draw from when you too are wondering, how can I forgive?.

One of the authors who submitted a piece for the anthology was, Lee Gaitan. An award-winning author of four books, including the Amazon #1 Bestseller My Pineapples Went to Houston, First Edition, and Lite Whines and Laughter, which garnered three international book awards and for which she was named a First Place Winner for Georgia Independent Author of the Year. She has authored chapters in several bestselling books and award-winning anthologies. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, Erma Bombeck Humor Writers’ Workshop, The Good Men Project, Mothers Always Write, Enchanted Conversations, and Bella Grace among others. Her blog entries have earned a first-place win and honorable mention from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and she is a winner of the Nickie’s Prize Writing Competition. Her 2021 release, My Pineapples Went to Houston, Second Edition, has already won two awards.