Trisha Yearwood1

Mining History - From Prague to Praag

Born & bred in the Netherlands, Judith van Praag’s ancestors hailed from former Czecho-Slovakia.

From backstage to on stage. Judith started out as set, costume & prop designer for primarily multicultural theater companies. Eventually her interest shifted to the literary aspects of the theater, and to being on, rather than backstage.

Judith received a grant from the Amsterdam Council for the Arts for Man in Space/ The Estranger, a musical/ art installation and spoken word performance that premiered in Amsterdam. A Prince Bernhard Foundation travel grant allowed her to accept the position of guest artist/performer and lecturer at the Fine Arts Department, and the School of Architecture at U.T. at Austin. At the end of her stay she presented a poetry performance with two musicians, Marvin King† and Gary Davis at The Chicago House. The Austin Writers' League named her Traveling Poet of 1994 following her immigration.

Following loss of first born lead to grief writing, initially for support group publications. In 1999 she published the memoir "Creative Acts of Healing: after a baby dies." Essays, reviews and articles related to loss, grief and healing are still available at Ouders Online, a Dutch web magazine for parents. Responses to her column "Once a Mother Always a Mother" made her feel she'd become the Ann Landers of Grief.

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