A BODY OF WORK
On an embodied approach to writing…
I have dedicated my creative life to expressing the entirety of my experiences—the essence of who I am, both physically and emotionally. Some (including myself) have labeled it oversharing. I have embraced the role of an embodied storyteller, using writing as my primary means of physical expression. I support this work by incorporating practices such as hiking, cycling, yoga, and contemporary dance into my creative process. I feel a profound connection between my body and the world around me. My body of work is a reflection of my physical and emotional experiences in written form. Writing and movement are intertwined in my creative process, both driven by a desire to communicate, connect, and document my life.
ThE LIGHT STREAMED BENEATH IT
A lifetime of finding punchlines in his heartache comes to a shuddering stop when comedian and writer Shawn Hitchins loses two great loves, five months apart, to sudden death. In this deeply poignant memoir that combines sober self-portrait with tender elegy, Hitchins explores the messiness of being alive: the longing and desire, scorching-earth anger, raw grief — and the pathway of healing he discovers when he lets his heart remain open.
Never without an edge of self-awareness, The Light Streamed Beneath It invites the reader into Hitchins’s world as he reckons with his past and stays painfully in the present. As he builds an embodied future, he confronts the stories that have shaped him, sets aside his ambition, and seeks connection in what he used to deflect with laughter — therapy, community and chosen family, movement, spirituality, and an awareness of death’s ever-presence.
A heartrending and hope-filled story of resilience in the wake of death, The Light Streamed Beneath It joyfully affirms that life is essentially good, as Hitchins weaves his tale full of tenacious spirit, humor, kindness, and grit through life’s most unforgiving challenges.
Cover: Michael Vrana
“A timely story so human, so beautiful, so bravely told with heart and humor.”
Rosie O’Donnell
“An astoundingly beautiful book that offers readers a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of resilience that ultimately celebrates life — even if it does so in the shadow of insurmountable loss.”
CBC Arts
“With a writing style that is both unabashedly honest and lyrically beautiful, Shawn Hitchins lays bare what it means to love, grieve, and rediscover life.”
The Ampersand Review
“This is an embodied story of love, loss and recovery — raw, candid and filled with a sense of awe at human resilience.”
Shelf Awareness ★
A BRIEF HISTORY OF OVERSHARING
Comedian Shawn Hitchins explores his irreverent nature in this debut collection of essays. Hitchins doesn’t shy away from his failures or celebrate his mild successes — he sacrifices them for an audience’s amusement. He roasts his younger self, the effeminate ginger-haired kid with a competitive streak. The ups and downs of being a sperm donor to a lesbian couple. Then the fiery redhead professes his love for actress Shelley Long, declares his hatred of musical theatre, and recounts a summer spent in Provincetown working as a drag queen.
Nothing is sacred. His first major break-up, how his mother plotted the murder of the family cat, his difficult relationship with his father, becoming an unintentional spokesperson for all redheads, and many more.
Blunt, awkward, emotional, ribald, this anthology of humiliation culminates in a greater understanding of love, work, and family. Like the final scene in a Murder She Wrote episode, A Brief History of Oversharing promises everyone the A-ha! moment Oprah tells us to experience. Paired with bourbon, Scottish wool, and Humpty Dumpty Party Mix, this journey is best read through a lens of schadenfreude.
Photo: Jen Squires
“Thank you, Shawn Hitchins, for oversharing. Any loss of dignity
Rick Mercer
you experienced from writing this memoir is a laugh-out-loud
funny gain for the rest of us.”
“If you revel in reading about the embarrassment of others — namely, Shawn himself — this is a fun read.”
Toronto Star
“It takes a special kind of person to write a play-by-play description of masturbation that is simultaneously hilarious, repulsive, and sweet. That person is Shawn Hitchins … His book is at turns bawdy and beautiful … He’s not kidding when he says he’s oversharing, but somehow he makes the mix of raw emotion and salty hilarity work.”
Foreword Reviews ★
“Each moment of sincerity or loss is sandwiched by punchlines and parody … Yet taken as a whole, there’s a gentle depth to the collection, encouraging each of us, through bumbling example, to learn to accept our own quirks and flaws…like many good comedians, Hitchins is willing to excoriate himself to amuse — and, just maybe, enrich — his audience.”
Quill & Quire
GINGER NATION
Ginger Nation documents Hitchins’ hilarious and heartfelt one-man show (of the same name) as the affable entertainer recounts his experience as a sperm donor to his lesbian friends. Hitchins’ spunky storytelling effortlessly weaves tales from his adolescence and his brushes with celebrity with bizarre tales of turkey basters and masturbating in increasingly suspect bathrooms. But Hitchins also reveals an unexpected and touching vulnerability as he examines what it means, as a gay man, to become a biological father, fearful that his ginger DNA will produce a child who experiences the same isolation that Hitchins did when he was growing up.
Photo: Jen Squires, Poster: Chris Rouleau
GINGER NATION
“An extremely affable performer with a keen sense of timing who obviously enjoys working a room.”
Huffington Post
“A really engaging and wonderful storyteller… quite surprisingly, rather moving.”
GayTimes UK
“Hitchins is a brave enough performer to not just hit the audience with a genuine emotional blinder, but also to successfully pull them back into the safety of laughter afterwards.”
Broadway Baby
SHAWN HITCHINS 