COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | The Persimmon Journal

The art of getting older, through lockdown, loss, and release

How do you deal with the inevitable losses of ageing while remaining open to new life?

The Persimmon Journal will resource you to move through resistance to release, through clinging to clearing, and through grieving to harvesting.

• From Etruscan tombs to poems in the park
• From dreams of large shoes to giving up gumboots
• The old woman who ran into the sea
• From lost in Paris to giving up coal
• From the wild of nature to the rhythm of nursery rhymes
• From doing an impossible thing to the taste of a persimmon

‘With each wave of grief released, I feel lighter, and even younger. I will step more lightly into old age because of this.’

Juliet Batten, author of Spirited Ageing and The Pomegranate Journal, takes you into her experience of growing older from seventy-seven to nearly seventy-nine. Along with the challenges, she shares rich resources gathered along the way as the meaning of the persimmon unfolds.

‘A warm and uplifting book . . . Juliet writes with both tenderness and toughness, giving the reader a taste of a nourishing journey into older age, as rich and sweet as the persimmon fruit itself.’ — Jane Duncan Rogers, Founder, Before I Go Solutions

Juliet Batten is an award-winning writer and the author of eleven non-fiction books, including two memoirs, three about the seasons of nature, and two about ageing from midlife to old age.

She has taught English, Women’s Studies, and Environmental Studies at the University of Auckland, worked as a psychotherapist for twenty-six years, and was a director of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust for ten years.

As an artist she has held many solo exhibitions and coordinated collaborative art projects.

Her writing, teaching, and art reflect a deep connection with nature and seasonal change, as well as commitment to spiritual growth through all stages of life. Growing into Wisdom (Tandem Press) provides a guide through midlife and Spirited Ageing provides a blueprint for positive growth in later years.

Her books A Cup of Sunlight (2005) and Dancing with the Seasons (2010) won the Ashton Wylie Award for an unpublished manuscript. Spirited Ageing (2013) was a finalist in the Ashton Wylie Award for a published book. Sun, Moon, and Stars was runner up for the published book award in 2020. The Pomegranate Journal (2022) was the first in the ‘Seasons of Life’ trilogy.

You can read an article Juliet has written for GrownUps here

Terms and conditions

1. 1. You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
   2. Competition closes on the 1st November 2022, winners will be notified via email by 3rd November 2022.
   3. It is your responsibility to ensure you correctly enter a New Zealand postal address where the prize can be couriered. GrownUps will not take responsibility for prizes sent to incorrect addresses.
   4. Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
   5. GrownUps employees and family are not eligible to enter.
   6. By entering the giveaway, you approve for GrownUps to use your name on social media as winner of the competition.
   7. One entry per person.
   8. Prize is non transferrable.
   9. You must reside in New Zealand – the prize will only be posted within New Zealand.
   10. You must be over 50 years of age to enter, check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.