For Sisters: Join us for a special gathering with Shannon Staloch, a licensed midwife and longtime community advocate, as she shares heartfelt reflections on support, belonging, and the unique experiences of New Muslims. Shannon will speak about the importance of midwifery and the role it has played in her own spiritual journey as a convert of over 20 years.
She will also read from her beautifully written new memoir, Born Far From Home: A Midwife’s Search for Meaning, a moving exploration of faith, service, and identity.
This event is perfect for all women, and especially meaningful for converts seeking connection, inspiration, and shared experience.
Saturday, Dec. 20 | 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. | MCC Conference Room | Sisters Only | Join us in-person or virtually at mcceastbay.org/live | Register at mcceastbay.org/meaning
Co-sponsored by The Rahmah Foundation
Questions? events@mcceastbay.org
About the Speaker
Shannon Staloch became a licensed midwife in 2008. Since then, she has attended over 800 births and established the popular home birth practice, Midwives Bay Area. Born Far From Home is her first book. Shannon resides in Berkeley, California, and still takes daily walks or runs in its beautiful hills.
About The Book, Born Far From Home
A new Muslim, Shannon Staloch, moves to California to live near a community studying traditional Islam and finds herself learning another venerable tradition, midwifery. In this intricately woven memoir, Shannon braids the intimate moments from the birth stories of a diverse cast of women with the reflections of great thinkers from the Islamic and Western traditions—from the spiritual master Imam al-Ghazali to the British obstetrician Grantly Dick Read, from Plato to Malcolm X—as she traces her journey of finding belonging and an enduring path to truth in her new faith. Birth by birth, Shannon approaches a deeper understanding of her craft and herself, aiming for a place that transcends identity, buoyed by the belief that dedication to a craft can shape not just the hands of a craftswoman but also her soul.
“Shannon Staloch effortlessly weaves ancient childbirth lore with the stories of births she attends, and relates them to her deepening faith in an equally ancient religion…beautiful, elegiac, transformative.” Peggy Vincent, bestselling author of Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife