Mark Nepo
Poet, Philosopher, and Bestselling Author
Exclusive Representation by Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau
Mark Nepo moved and inspired millions of people with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening, a spiritual daybook that draws on his awakening through cancer to offer life lessons from all the spiritual traditions. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” His work is widely accessible and used by many and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Having taught in the fields of poetry, health, and spirituality for forty years, Mark keynotes regularly for conferences and corporations, works with healing and medical communities, including chaplains and therapists, speaks and offers workshops for colleges and universities, and leads spiritual retreats. Like his books, his presentations are filled with helpful instructions on how to return to what matters in life and how to stay in relationship. Ultimately, he teaches us how to act wholeheartedly, so we can inhabit the gifts we are born with and find the language of our own wisdom.
In 1987, Mark was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. The heart of that journey and its aftermath has greatly informed his work. Ever since, he has been a student of all paths and his work has explored the common center and unity of all spiritual traditions, focusing on how we can experience that unity when we can lean into life and hold nothing back.
A bestselling author, he has published fourteen books and recorded eight audio projects. Recent work includes: Reduced to Joy (2013), Seven Thousand Ways to Listen which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award, Staying Awake (2012), Holding Nothing Back (2012), As Far As the Heart Can See (2011), Finding Inner Courage (2011), and Surviving Has Made Me Crazy (2007), as well as audio books of The Book of Awakening, Finding Inner Courage, and As Far As the Heart Can See (2011).
Mark has appeared with Oprah Winfrey on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV, and has been interviewed by Oprah as part of her SIRIUS XM Radio show, Soul Series. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America about his New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. The Exquisite Risk was cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it “one of the best books we’ve ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life.” Mark’s collected essays appear in Unlearning Back to God: Essays on Inwardness. Other books of poetry include Suite for the Living (2004), Inhabiting Wonder (2004), Acre of Light (1994), Fire Without Witness (1988), and God, the Maker of the Bed, and the Painter (1988).
In late 2010, his book The Book of Awakening was chosen by Oprah for her “Ultimate Favorite Things” show. “Mark Nepo is a poet,” Oprah said. “He’s an author and philosopher and has been through two different cancers. So when he writes, he writes purely from his heart.” Oprah was given The Book of Awakening as a birthday gift and wanted to do one lesson from the book every morning. “If we all do it together, we can begin to open our hearts, change the world and begin to have the life you want by being present to the life you have now,” she said.
Mark’s latest book is Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred, which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award. He offers new lessons and insights on the importance of giving our full attention to all that life has to offer.
Written in his beautiful, lyrical style, the book traces the story of his own hearing loss while unfolding a deeper understanding of how to listen to the world around us and to honor its connections to our internal life and callings. A moving exploration of self and our relationship to others, the book unpacks the many ways we are called to redefine ourselves and to name what is meaningful as we move through the changes that come from experience and aging and the challenge of surviving loss. “Listening is the way we befriend the life we’re given,” Nepo writes, and he has structured the book around three lasting friendships: our friendship with wisdom, with experience, and with each other. By listening and tending to each, he explains, we can awaken to life and restore our vitality.
Mark’s books and teachings are deep yet accessible because his wisdom is that of one whose close brush with death has enabled a rich understanding of the power of the human soul. He does not discount our flaws, our failings, our human weaknesses. On the contrary, his great tenderness for our imperfections is precisely what makes his audience feel so held—both in our human capacity and in our interconnectedness with one another. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.
Perhaps one of the most exquisite, poetic, and useful books ever written on this topic…. Every line, every phrase, every story is a poetic prayer coaxing the reader to listen and be listened to with more grace.
—Presence, the Journal of Spiritual Directors International
A consummate master of telling stories and parables about people's hopes, dreams, yearnings, fears, sorrows and triumphs… Nepo has written a masterwork on the spiritual practice of listening which plays such a predominant role in our private and public lives.
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice
This masterpiece on listening comes at a vital time when divisions in American run rampant around politics, race, and religion.
— Debra Moffitt, BeliefNet, author of Awake in the World
Mark Nepo is the F. Scott Fitzgerald of contemporary spiritual literature. Every line he writes contains a formidable, yet simple poeticism that strives for revelation. Each sentence exudes its own cathartic beauty… This beautiful book is a balm for anyone who is questioning the blows life has dealt them.
— Peter Valentyne, Sufi
Interested in booking Mark Nepo to speak at your next event?
Having taught in the fields of poetry, health, and spirituality for forty years, Mark keynotes regularly for conferences and corporations, works with healing and medical communities, including chaplains and therapists, speaks and offers workshops for colleges and universities, and leads spiritual retreats. Like his books, his presentations are filled with helpful instructions on how to return to what matters in life and how to stay in relationship. Ultimately, he teaches us how to act wholeheartedly, so we can inhabit the gifts we are born with and find the language of our own wisdom.
In 1987, Mark was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. The heart of that journey and its aftermath has greatly informed his work. Ever since, he has been a student of all paths and his work has explored the common center and unity of all spiritual traditions, focusing on how we can experience that unity when we can lean into life and hold nothing back.
A bestselling author, he has published fourteen books and recorded eight audio projects. Recent work includes: Reduced to Joy (2013), Seven Thousand Ways to Listen which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award, Staying Awake (2012), Holding Nothing Back (2012), As Far As the Heart Can See (2011), Finding Inner Courage (2011), and Surviving Has Made Me Crazy (2007), as well as audio books of The Book of Awakening, Finding Inner Courage, and As Far As the Heart Can See (2011).
Mark has appeared with Oprah Winfrey on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV, and has been interviewed by Oprah as part of her SIRIUS XM Radio show, Soul Series. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America about his New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. The Exquisite Risk was cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it “one of the best books we’ve ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life.” Mark’s collected essays appear in Unlearning Back to God: Essays on Inwardness. Other books of poetry include Suite for the Living (2004), Inhabiting Wonder (2004), Acre of Light (1994), Fire Without Witness (1988), and God, the Maker of the Bed, and the Painter (1988).
In late 2010, his book The Book of Awakening was chosen by Oprah for her “Ultimate Favorite Things” show. “Mark Nepo is a poet,” Oprah said. “He’s an author and philosopher and has been through two different cancers. So when he writes, he writes purely from his heart.” Oprah was given The Book of Awakening as a birthday gift and wanted to do one lesson from the book every morning. “If we all do it together, we can begin to open our hearts, change the world and begin to have the life you want by being present to the life you have now,” she said.
Mark’s latest book is Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What is Sacred, which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award. He offers new lessons and insights on the importance of giving our full attention to all that life has to offer.
Written in his beautiful, lyrical style, the book traces the story of his own hearing loss while unfolding a deeper understanding of how to listen to the world around us and to honor its connections to our internal life and callings. A moving exploration of self and our relationship to others, the book unpacks the many ways we are called to redefine ourselves and to name what is meaningful as we move through the changes that come from experience and aging and the challenge of surviving loss. “Listening is the way we befriend the life we’re given,” Nepo writes, and he has structured the book around three lasting friendships: our friendship with wisdom, with experience, and with each other. By listening and tending to each, he explains, we can awaken to life and restore our vitality.
Mark’s books and teachings are deep yet accessible because his wisdom is that of one whose close brush with death has enabled a rich understanding of the power of the human soul. He does not discount our flaws, our failings, our human weaknesses. On the contrary, his great tenderness for our imperfections is precisely what makes his audience feel so held—both in our human capacity and in our interconnectedness with one another. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.
Perhaps one of the most exquisite, poetic, and useful books ever written on this topic…. Every line, every phrase, every story is a poetic prayer coaxing the reader to listen and be listened to with more grace.
—Presence, the Journal of Spiritual Directors International
A consummate master of telling stories and parables about people's hopes, dreams, yearnings, fears, sorrows and triumphs… Nepo has written a masterwork on the spiritual practice of listening which plays such a predominant role in our private and public lives.
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice
This masterpiece on listening comes at a vital time when divisions in American run rampant around politics, race, and religion.
— Debra Moffitt, BeliefNet, author of Awake in the World
Mark Nepo is the F. Scott Fitzgerald of contemporary spiritual literature. Every line he writes contains a formidable, yet simple poeticism that strives for revelation. Each sentence exudes its own cathartic beauty… This beautiful book is a balm for anyone who is questioning the blows life has dealt them.
— Peter Valentyne, Sufi
Interested in booking Mark Nepo to speak at your next event?
Contact Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau.
(866) 248-3049
info@simonspeakers.com
