The Trimesters of Grief: Author Katie Rizzo Reimagines Loss as Pregnancy in New Memoir

PHOENIX, AZ, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Katie Rizzo—novelist, poet, scientist, and Phoenix-area local—has released her part memoir, part self-help book with Koehler Books. Written in the wake of losing her son to opioid addiction, the book unpacks how life is never truly the same after losing a child. Kirkus Reviews calls it “a heartbreaking memoir that provides guidance for those in the throes of grief.”

In the year 2024, roughly 80,000 people died from opioid overdose. The following year, addiction claimed Rizzo’s eldest son, Nicholas. Following his death, Rizzo turned to journaling, and what originally began as a survival mechanism quickly became a way of documenting her journey with grief. In The Trimesters of Grief, she describes the mirrored elements between pregnancy and mourning: There’s the invisible, physically tolling first trimester; the growing, evident second trimester; the visible third trimester; and finally, the stage of "newborn grief." The book guides readers through the process, blending journal entries, exercises, and poetry with the goal of learning to live with one’s newly born grief.

Rizzo says, “My book is a tribute to my son, but also hopefully it’s a book to other parents who’ve gone through similar things to know that you don’t have to close the curtains and live at home alone in pain, and that you can hold pain and joy in both hands.”

Ahead of National Substance Abuse Prevention Month this October, The Trimesters of Grief serves as both a tender tribute to those lost to addiction and an essential, hopeful companion for anyone learning to rebuild their life after tragedy.

Katie Rizzo will be celebrating the launch of her book at the Mesa Arts Center’s Día de los Muertos Festival on October 24 and 25 from 12 to 5 p.m. She will be reading poetry, selling books, and making space for others to make poetry as well.

The Trimesters of Grief is out now, and available online wherever books are sold.

For more information about the author or upcoming events, visit katierizzo.com.

Hannah Tonsor
Koehler Books
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