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Skinner House Books is the publishing imprint of the Unitarian Universalist Association, a liberal religious organization with more than 1,000 congregations.

Skinner House Books is the publishing imprint of the Unitarian Universalist Association, a liberal religious organization with more than 1,000 congregations in the United States and Canada. Our books are available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop at shopinspirit.org and wherever books are sold.

06/07/2026

All That You Need Lies Within You

Consider this an invitation
to you.
Yes—you
with all your happiness
and your burdens,
your hopes and regrets.
An invitation if you feel good today,
and an invitation if you do not,
if you are aching—
and there are so many ways to ache. . . .

Maybe your heart is heavy
or hardened.
Maybe it’s troubled
and peace can take up residence
only in a small corner,
only on the edge,
with all that is going on in the world,
and in your life.
Ni modo. It doesn’t matter.

All that you need
for a deep and comforting peace to grow
lies within you.
Once it is in your heart
let it spread into your life,
let it pour from your life into the world—
and once it is in the world,
let it shine upon all beings.

—Angela Herrera
Reaching for the Sun

Available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

06/06/2026

Skinner House is thrilled to announce that Wind, Stop Blowing! by Laura Alary and illustrated by Sue Teodoro has received a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year honorable mention in the Early Reader Picture Books Category! The awards honor the very best of indie publishing each year and it’s a joy to have this book recognized for its outstanding quality.

Benjamin Snooks does not simply dislike the wind. He despises and detests it. From the time he was a baby and sand blew in his face, he decided that the wind was nothing but trouble: it makes a mess of things, disturbs his life, and upsets his plans. But when Benjamin Snooks tries to stop the wind from blowing—or at least escape it—he discovers that making peace with it is a wiser path.

Wind, Stop Blowing! reveals the problems we create when we cling too tightly to our expectations of how things ought to be. It gently invites children to consider better ways to respond to life’s small setbacks and changes. Ages 4–8.

Available wherever books are sold and from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

06/05/2026

Award-winning essayist, poet, and teacher Brenda Miller is continuing her tour this summer to celebrate her new book, Love You, Bye. The book is a luminous collection of essays and poems about family, faith, and the art of saying goodbye. You can see her at the following events, with more to be announced. Details are available on her website: brendamillerwriter.com/events

June 17th at 6:30 at Eagle Harbor Book Co, Bainbridge Island, WA: Reading and conversation with Sheila Bender

June 18th at 5:30 at Imprint Book Shop, Port Townsend, WA: Reading and conversation with Holly J. Hughes

June 25th to 27th at Chuckanut Writers Conference, Bellingham, WA: “The Fault Lines of Memory: Navigating Imperfect Memory in Creative Nonfiction”

July 17th at 7:00 at Bold Coffee and Books in Portland, OR: Reading and conversation with Kim Stafford

July 18th at 1:00 at Invitation Bookstore in Gig Harbor, WA: Reading and conversation with Ann Putnam

July 18th at 7:00 at Rainier Writing Workshop in Tacoma, WA: Workshop with Vandana Nair

06/03/2026

Every story begins with a word. As a young woman, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew carried a word within her so potent that it spread through her every artery and vein. She carried it in secret until she was shown a different way and the word inside her turned restless and eager.

A stunning memoir of coming of age and coming out, Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Memoir of Bisexuality and Spirit describes a period of time in award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew’s life when she came to know bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Andrew not only reconciles her United Methodist faith with her sexuality but realizes that her body is holy, her sexuality is holy, and the word she carried within her has always been holy.

The spark of spirit Andrew identifies in her body she also finds throughout the solid matter of life—in childhood, nature, creativity, loss, death, and especially the coming out process. Andrew brings a distinctly q***r feminist lens to Christian teachings and answers the question innumerable young people have posed to her over the years: “Is it possible to be both q***r and spiritual?” The act of bringing hidden, personal truths to light is transformative, and for Andrew, a universal calling.

This second edition includes a new note from Andrew as she looks back on its twenty-year history and a foreword by Bishop Karen Oliveto.

Available wherever books are sold and from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

06/02/2026

Did you know Journey Toward Morning is available as an audiobook? Get your copy today from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other major audio platforms. And you can often request that your local library purchase a copy too!

Meditations on nature, life, and spirituality by beloved Unitarian Universalist minister Victoria Safford.

"In a cemetery once, an old one in New England, I found a strangely soothing epitaph. The name of the deceased and her dates had been scoured away by wind and rain, but there was a carving of a tree with roots and branches (a classic nineteenth-century motif) and among them the words, 'She attended well and faithfully to a few worthy things.' At first this seemed to me a little meager, a little stingy on the part of her survivors, but I wrote it down and have thought about it since, and now I can't imagine a more proud or satisfying legacy. Every day I stand in danger of being struck by lightning and having the obituary in the local paper say, for all the world to see, 'She attended frantically and ineffectually to a great many unimportant, meaningless details.'

How do you want your obituary to read?"
—from "Set in Stone"

06/01/2026

In Held: Showing Up for Each Other’s Mental Health, community minister and mental health advocate Rev. Meyers illustrates how members of liberal religious congregations can be supportive to those living with mental health problems, and their loved ones, in our congregations and society at large.

Rev. Meyers addresses the fundamental elements of spiritual support—truth, hope, presence, acceptance, encouragement, authenticity, public witness, and pastoral care—with stories from real life situations and suggestions for how parishioners can provide and advocate for support in their congregations. A study guide for congregations and a list of resources for more information round out this thoughtful and necessary resource.

Held is available from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

05/31/2026

Today
has been
a day, like all
days, it seems,
in which I let people
down and did not
love as fully as I
always hope.
And today I have
been sad because
always there are the
unexpected
and unpredictable
consequences of
what I do and
do not know.
And yet the taste
of this perfectly ripe
pear on my tongue
reminds me of heaven
and of gifts beyond
measure: like sweetness
and sunset
and again, tomorrow.

—Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
Breaking and Blessing: Meditations

05/29/2026

Incantations for Rest is an invitation to slow down and explore every kind of rest, providing sacred space for those exhausted by the demands of a racist, ableist society. This stunning collection of poems, meditations, and magic by poet-activist Atena O. Danner is an examination of spiritual spaces, a love letter to Black well-being, and medicine for BIPOC people.

A call to anyone who thought they were alone on the journey, Incantations for Rest is for kindred spirits: neurodivergent folks, parents up late past bedtime nursing resentment, Black people in predominantly white spaces—anyone who has found themselves at the edges of Beloved Community. Within these pages you are invited to savor connection, question assumptions, admit to complicated feelings, and still make room for joy. It is a beacon of affirmation and a vital tool for ritual and reflection.

Available wherever books are sold and from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

05/28/2026

Special opportunity alert! Award-winning author and writing teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is offering a two week course: Writing the Sacred Journey: An Introduction to Spiritual Memoir. The course runs from June 1st to 12th and is self-paced, including lectures from Elizabeth, timed writing prompts, readings, online forums with Elizabeth, and a one-hour live zoom call.

Your experiences are unique, significant, and shot through with holiness. Why not write them down? Writing is a way to nurture the sacred dimension of your memories, participate in the creation of your identity, and offer others through your presence and stories the blessing of your evolving truth.

You’re invited to participate in this two week, self-paced introduction to the art and spiritual practice of writing memoir. We’ll ask, “What is memoir, and how is it different from autobiography? What makes memoir spiritual? How can the practice of writing memoir, either for an audience or for no audience, support spiritual growth?” Using writing exercises and readings from model writers, we will start with the basics. We will also discuss how to sustain the practice moving forward.

Give yourself the gift of your unique and sacred story. You can learn more at https://bit.ly/4u168tO.

05/24/2026

Memorial Day Prayer

Spirit of Life
whom we have called by many names
in thanksgiving and in anguish—

Bless the poets and those who mourn
Send peace for the soldiers who did not make the wars
but whose lives were consumed by them

Let strong trees grow above graves far from home
Breathe through the arms of their branches
The earth will swallow your tears while the dead sing
“No more, never again, remember me.”

For the wounded ones, and those who received them back,
let there be someone ready when the memories come
when the scars pull and the buried metal moves
and forgiveness for those of us who were not there
for our ignorance.

And in us, veterans in a forest of a thousand fallen
promises,
let new leaves of protest grow on our stumps.

Give us courage to answer the cry of humanity’s pain
And with our bare hands, out of full hearts,
with all our intelligence
let us create the peace.

Barbara J. Pescan
Morning Watch

Address

24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA
02210

Telephone

(617) 742-2100

Website

http://www.skinnerhouse.org/

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