Everything Happens with Kate Bowler Nikki Grimes on Complicated Childhoods, Forgiveness, and Extraordinary Grace
Nov 25, 2025
Nikki Grimes, a celebrated poet and author of children's literature, shares her journey from a tumultuous childhood to finding beauty in survival. She delves into the profound lessons her experiences taught her about faith and forgiveness. Grimes discusses how her empathy blossomed from hardship and how she learned the importance of recovering joyful memories. She also reads poignant selections from her poetry, exploring themes of grace versus luck, the distinctions between joy and happiness, and the eye-opening perspectives children have on spirituality.
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Recovered Childhood Memory Of Ice Skating
- While writing her memoir Nikki recovered a lost positive memory about ice skating after speaking with an old friend.
- She highlights how memory preserves some scenes and loses others, even good ones.
Foster Family Gave a Model Of Belonging
- Nikki describes the Buchanans, a foster family who showed her love, church, and belonging during a hard season.
- That experience gave her hope and a model of a different possible life she could carry forward.
Birthday Bash Became A Poetic Celebration
- For her 60th birthday Nikki hosted a big celebration and asked guests to bring poems; many wrote poems for the first time.
- The event highlighted how celebrating oneself can reclaim long-missed rituals of being remembered.
