I write and teach about the things most of us aren’t sure how to talk about: grief, caregiving, disability, and what it means to keep living fully inside a life that hasn’t gone the way you planned.
I am a writer, educator, and certified therapeutic journaling instructor. I am also a certified end-of-life doula and volunteer at The Denver Hospice. My essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, River Teeth’s Beautiful Things, The Master’s Review (Best Emerging Writer 2024), and elsewhere, and I have a Pushcart nomination for “All My New Friends Are Widows.” My co-edited book, Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin, was named best book of 2025 by the Council of Writing Program Administrators.
I was widowed in June 2021 after being my husband Tom’s caregiver following his stroke. In 2025 I underwent brain surgery to remove a benign mass pressing on my brain stem, which has given me firsthand experience being a care recipient. I live with low vision, face blindness, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. I don’t write around any of this — it’s the material.
I write about all of it in my Substack newsletter, Here for All of It. For 2024 and earlier writing, my blog archive is still available.
Work with me
I offer courses and speaking on grief, caregiving, journaling, and navigating hard things with honesty and without toxic positivity. Whether you’re looking for a speaker who will tell the truth from the stage or a self-paced course you can move through on your own timeline, I’d love to connect.
→ Courses and Services
→ Speaking and Keynotes
Background
After 18 years as Writing Center Director at Metropolitan State University of Denver, I now focus full-time on writing and teaching. I am a coach for the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. My memoir-in-progress, The Caregiving Year, chronicles the year I was Tom’s caregiver.
For readers who want to go deeper into my academic work, my scholarship explores questions of power, authority, access, and rhetorical framing.
Photo credit: Adrianne Matthiowetz
Email me: liz dot kleinfeld at gmail dot com
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