Past Events

Navigating The Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women was published in CANADA on October 1, 2022, and in the UNITED STATES on March 28, 2023. What follows is a list of past events related to the book’s launch. (You can find out about upcoming events here.)

2023

MIDLIFE CONVERSATIONS - ANDREA J. BUCHANAN AND ANN DOUGLAS (ONLINE EVENT) - May 8, 2023.
This was the first in a series of conversations about midlife hosted by midlife book author Ann Douglas. This time around, Ann was in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Andrea J. Buchanan. The conversation was all about midlife creativity, being a mid-career author, and navigating the joys and challenges of midlife, both personally and professionally. The conversation was recorded and is available for replay via this link.

BURLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, BURLINGTON, ONTARIO (ONLINE PRESENTATION)
AUTHOR CONVERSATION - May 1, 2023.
Ann Douglas spoke with Parampreet Khanuja of the Burlington Public Library about her latest book, Navigating The Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women.

LINDEN PLACE MANSION, BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND (ONLINE PRESENTATION)
MINI-MEMOIR WORKSHOP - April 12, 2023.
Ann Douglas delivered a two-hour generative writing workshop for midlife women. Using her latest book Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women as a launching pad, Ann guided participants through a series of mini-memoir exercises and shared some strategies for figuring out how to tell a particular story, whether you have an audience of one or many in mind.

BRIA VIRTUAL MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC, TORONTO, ONTARIO (VIRTUAL EVENT)
BRIA BOOK CLUB - April 4, 2023.
Ann was the inaugural author for the BRIA Book Club — a book club for clients of this virtual mental health clinic for women.

HER STORIES COMMUNITY: A WRITING COMMUNITY FOR MIDLIFE WOMEN - NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE BOOK TALK AND WRITING PROCESS WEBINAR - March 2, 2023.
Ann Douglas spoke about the process of researching and writing her most book Navigating The Messy Middle at this webinar for midlife women writers.

ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO - LIMESTONE LOCAL (ONLINE PRESENTATION). NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE BOOK TALK. Friday, February 24, 2023.
Ann Douglas spoke at this member event hosted by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (Limestone Local).

NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION - WOMEN ATTORNEYS NAVIGATING MIDLIFE: A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW TO ACHIEVE FULFILLMENT AND INSPIRATION IN YOUR MIDLIFE CAREER (WEBINAR) - February 1, 2023.
Ann Douglas was one of the panelists at this online event hosted by the New Jersey State Bar Association.

SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL PETERBOROUGH - BOOK TALK - January 4, 2023
Ann Douglas read a short excerpt from Navigating The Messy Middle to members of this service club for women.

THE WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA: OPEN MIC NIGHT - January 3, 2023
Ann Douglas read a short excerpt from Navigating The Messy Middle at this special event for Ontario members.

Fall 2022: Canadian Book Launch

NATIONAL BOOK LAUNCH PARTY - OCTOBER 5, 2022
Ann Douglas chatted with midlife coach Sara Smeaton about her new book Navigating The Messy Middle: a Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women. Ann talked about why she wrote the book and how she’s hoping it will help to shift the conversation about what it means to be a woman at midlife. (Midlife isn’t totally magical — nor is it completely miserable. The truth falls somewhere in the middle. The messy middle!)

WINNIPEG PUBLIC LIBRARY, NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE BOOK TALK - OCTOBER 25, 2022
Ann Douglas discussed the research for her book, debunking common myths and misconceptions about midlife.

WILFRED LAURIER UNIVERSITY: WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE, MIDLIFE PIVOTS AND CURVEBALLS: A GUIDE FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMEN - OCTOBER 26, 2022
Too often, women at midlife are given the message that their "best-before date" has long since passed. It's important to push back against this narrative and to encourage women to recognize the brilliance of their midlife brains and to see the potential that's baked into this one-of-a-kind life stage. In this webinar, Ann Douglas highlighted the unique developmental challenges and opportunities of midlife and shared some of what she learned from her conversations with over 100 midlife women (the women she interviewed while researching her book Navigating the Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women).

WATERLOO PUBLIC LIBRARY - NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE BOOK TALK - November 1, 2022
Ann Douglas discussed the research for her book, debunking common myths and misconceptions about midlife.

POP-UP BOOK CLUB: NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE - November 14, 2022 (daytime and evening sessions)
Ann Douglas hosted a one-time book club for women who were reading -- and who wanted to get together to talk about -- Navigating The Messy Middle.

WATERLOO PUBLIC LIBRARY - MIDLIFE REMAINED: A FIERCELY HONEST AND WILDLY ENCOURAGING STORY-SHARING WORKSHOP FOR MIDLIFE WOMEN - November 15, 2022
Midlife requires a radical imagination: a willingness to tell ourselves new and better stories about our lives. We need narratives that encourage us to connect the dots between past, present, and future in a way that allows us to reflect on who we’ve been, who we are, and who we hope to become, and to reconnect with our hopes and dreams for ourselves, our families, and our communities. In this thought-provoking workshop, Ann Douglas encouraged participants in to reflect on their own learning and growth as midlife women and to share some of that thinking and learning with others.

MIDLIFE SHOW AND TELL - November 16, 2002
This workshop was designed for women who had read and enjoyed NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE by Ann Douglas -- and who wanted to explore, in a creative and fun-filled way, some of her ideas about "the thinking part of midlife." Participants were invited to share a story about a photo, an item of clothing, or some other personal item that had meaning to them, as a means of connecting the dots between the person they were, the person they are, and the person they are becoming.

MIDLIFE MINI-MEMOIR - November 26, 2022
Ann Douglas hosted a two-hour generative writing workshop for midlife women. She used her latest book -- Navigating the Messy Middle -- as a launching pad to writing a mini-memoir (a short piece of writing that circles around a particular moment -- or series of moments -- in time). Participants walked away with some strategies for figuring out how to tell a particular story, whether they had an audience of one or many in mind.

MIDLIFE AND MENOPAUSE REIMAGINED: TELLING OURSELVES NEW AND BETTER STORIES ABOUT OUR LIVES - November 30, 2022
Authors Jane Cawthorne and Elaine Morin joined Ann for a conversation about reimagining life-limiting midlife narratives.