*Letters for My Father: Grief, Love, and Self-Exploration* began without any intention of becoming a book. After my father died, letters to him began to form. At first, they were simply a place for grief—a way to speak the things I still wanted to say and to remain connected to someone who had been an important part of my life. But as I continued writing, the letters became something more. They became a way of revisiting our relationship, wrestling with memories, regrets and gratitude, and discovering things about my father, myself, and love that I had not fully understood while he was alive.

This gathering grows out of that journey, but it also extends beyond my own story. I will be joined by my brother, John Hoffman, and several colleagues who have their own relationships to the book, to grief, and to the questions it raises. Together, we will reflect on what happens when grief is approached not simply as something painful that we must learn to live with, but as an experience that can continue to deepen and transform our relationships—with those we have lost, with ourselves, and with others.

We will explore grief, love, continuing bonds, memory, regret, meaning, and the ways loss can call us toward greater honesty about how we are living. We will also consider writing and other forms of reflection as ways of entering into dialogue with grief rather than trying to bring it neatly to a conclusion.

This will not be a conversation about the “right” way to grieve. Grief is far too personal, relational, and complicated for that. Instead, we hope to create a space for stories, reflection, vulnerability, and genuine encounter—a space to consider not only whom we have lost, but how loving and losing them continues to shape who we are becoming.

Description supplied by the event organiser.