Books
by Marcia Cebulska
LOVERS, DREAMERS, AND THIEVES
My people, Chicago & the Polish bakery where I grew up.
In this touching yet wickedly funny memoir, Marcia Cebulska gives you a peek behind the curtain to see what life was like in the family bakery that adjoined her childhood home. You will meet the warm, rowdy, lovable, and sometimes criminal characters of her life: a grandfather who stages fake Polish weddings; a parakeet that rides on the head of the pet dog; a cousin who collects nun dolls. But also: a father taken away in handcuffs; a mother in love with a priest; an uncle in the mob.
Being a playwright and novelist, Cebulska is a superb storyteller who, in short, captivating vignettes, portrays her memories as individual, evocative, beautifully told worlds in themselves. Woven together, these stories tell a larger tale, one of desire and struggle, passion and defeat, dancing and joy. Reading LOVERS, DREAMERS, & THIEVES is a stimulating and enriching walk in another time, another life.
New York Times’ best-selling author, Harriet Lerner, calls Cebulska’s LOVERS, DREAMERS, AND THIEVES “a visceral knockout of a memoir packed with vibrant, unforgettable family members.”
Marcia Cebulska’s account of life in Chicago’s Polish community is both moving and important. Polish Americans in Chicago are often referenced but have not often told their own story. Lovers, Dreamers, and Thieves captures both the joys and the sorrow of the immigrant / ethnic experience in the Windy City. It is a must read for anyone interested in Chicago and its diverse people.
Dominic A. Pacyga, author of American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Polish Chicago
WATCHING MEN DANCE
Marcia's debut novel!
She is a wanderer; he will not fly. She is a city girl; he prefers a bison ranch. She grew up in her father’s Greek restaurant; he dances at powwows. Ava and Jesse travel life together in a turquoise pickup truck, feasting along the way. They settle, raise children, cheat, gamble, and fight with great gusto. When Ava leaves to travel around Greece like a female Odysseus, their bond is tested.
Watching Men Dance is a feast for the senses, a celebration of cultural diversity, and a compelling read, at once both humorous and moving. Ava, the captivating main character, embodies an engaging zest for life as she struggles between her pull to adventure and her need for home and family. Jesse, the Native dancer she falls in love with, challenges her beliefs and commitments. Watching Men Dance is the story of a marriage: simple and complex, lonely and overcrowded, exasperating and fulfilling.
Watching Men Dance provides a good opportunity for armchair travelers who are aching to spread their wings after COVID isolation as its heroine travels to the Pacific Northwest, Chile, Greek Islands, Italy, and Wales from her home base in Kansas. The main character is a photographer who struggles with her love of adventure versus her need for home and family and deals with issues concerning a cross-cultural relationship with a Native American dancer.
The book, published by Flint Hills Publishing, features original cover art painted by Barbara Waterman-Peters.
SKYWRITING
- A Journaling Guide to Help You Soar
“Cover up your screens! Tell your phone to take a hike! Get ready to journal your way to more joy, creativity, and healing than you can begin to imagine.”
Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger and Why Won’t You Apologize?
“Marcia Cebulska's Skywriting journal is the perfect jumping-off point for anyone interested in fun and insightful guided self-discovery. Where the typical prompt-journal author is an invisible, omniscient narrator leaving the reader/writer to complete this journey alone, Marcia accompanies us every step of the way. In a startlingly authentic voice, she relates fascinating and deeply personal stories, which gives us permission to be authentic and honest in our own writing. With thought-provoking, challenging, and playful prompts and questions, she compels us to dig deep and hold nothing back, because she holds nothing back. A satisfying and inspirational journal I enthusiastically recommend to writers and non-writers alike.”
LS Hawker, USA Today Bestselling Author
of The Drowning Game
“Skywriting provides wonderful support and encouragement for the practice of writing and for the expression of joy, grief, rage, and other powerful emotions and experiences. As someone who has taken part in Marcia Cebulska’s Writing to Heal class, I have seen and experienced her work firsthand as a tremendous source of inspiration and exciting growth for myself and others as writers and as human beings. For anyone who has the urge to write, this book offers much stimulus for expression. It will be invaluable for lay people and health care professionals.”
Richard Balaban, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist
Would you like Marcia to attend (currently by ZOOM) your book club or writers group? Learn More