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ALEXIS MARIE CHUTE is the author of the multi award-winning memoir Expecting Sunshine: A Journey of Grief, Healing and Pregnancy After Loss (She Writes Press, 2017). Expecting Sunshine was a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of 2017 and an IndieReader Top 10 Best Reviewed Book of 2017. The memoir has been honored with distinctions including the Benjamin Franklin Book Award, Eric Hoffer Book Award, Royal Dragonfly Book Award, Best Book Award, IndieReader Discovery Award, Next Generation Indie Book Award, and a Canada Book Award.

Above the Star (SparkPress), her second book, was published June 5, 2018 (Spark Press). Above the Star is book one in the epic fantasy series called The 8th Island Trilogy (slated for release 2018, 2019 and 2010). Critics are calling Above the Star a “Must Read” and “A Wrinkle in Time meets The Princess Bride.” Bookstr included Above the Star the “2018’s Top 15 Unputdownable YA Reads.”

Chute is a distinguished writer, artist, photographer, and filmmaker. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design from the University of Alberta, Canada, and studied at Media Design school in Auckland, New Zealand. She graduated valedictorian with her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, USA.

Chute has received over 40 noteworthy distinctions for her visual and literary work. For her decade-and-a-half effort as arts advocate, she was named the recipient of The John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts. She was also named an “Emerging Canadian Photographer” by Photo Life Magazine and an Avenue Magazine “Top 40 Under 40.” In 2018, she received a Horizon Award for distinguished graduates of the University of Alberta. Chute was featured in print and video as mother-expert in the pregnancy loss awareness campaign by Today’s Parent Magazine, which won first place at the 38th Annual National Magazine Awards for Best Editorial Package on the Web.

Chute was the 2012/2013 Artist in Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre, where she began her ground breaking fine art photo and documentary series, “The Quiet Rebuild,” featuring volunteers from around the world. Her visual and literary work on the topic of resiliency has been exhibited and published internationally. Her bright-bold abstract paintings are represented at the AR&S Gallery at the Art Gallery of Alberta. Chute also curates the Canada-wide InFocus Photography Exhibition during Exposure Photography Festival. She is the Curator in Residence at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel.

Chute’s memoir is accompanied by the feature documentary film, also called Expecting Sunshine, which she directed-produced. The film won Audience Choice Best Film of 2018 at the Central Alberta Film Festival, where it was also shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature of 2018. Expecting Sunshine Documentary was also a semi-finalist in the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards, a finalist in the US Hollywood International Golden Film Award and the International Women’s Film Festival. The film began screening internationally during 2018 at venues such as the Arizona International Film Festival and the International Congress on Stillbirth, SIDS and Baby Survival in Glasgow, Scotland, for example. It continues to be shown around the world in 2019 and 2020, including the Nice Film Market, France, and beyond.

Chute’s writing has been published in TIME Motto, Scary Mommy, Womanista, Today’s Parent, PhotoEd Magazine, WestWord Magazine, Vie, Edmonton Woman Magazine, Flurt Magazine, Mind Body Green, The Good Men Project, Still Standing Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Smart Healthy Woman, and many others.

She is a highly-regarded inspirational speaker and teacher. She has presented on business, art, photography, writing, filmmaking, bereavement, and the healing capacities of creativity around the world.

When not in her art-photography-film studio, writing at her computer, or on a leg of her international tour, Chute loves to spend quality time with her family, read both fiction and memoirs, watch reality TV, paddleboard, and canoe. She is not a winter person but lives in the frosty city of Edmonton with her husband and their living children.

“An amazingly moving and emotional story that any woman―or any parent―can easily relate to. ” ―Jennifer Hamilton, Editor, Canadian Family magazineExpecting Sunshine is a multi-award-winning memoir and a Kirkus Review BEST INDIE BOOK of 2017Anyone who has experienced—or knows someone who has experienced—miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, or other forms of pregnancy and baby loss should read Expecting Sunshine, including those considering or already pregnant again. After her son, Zachary, dies in her arms at birth, visual artist and author Alexis Marie Chute disappears into her “Year of Distraction. ” She cannot paint or write or tap into the heart of who she used to be, mourning not only for Zachary, but also for the future they might have had together. It is only when Chute learns she is pregnant again that she sets out to find healing and rediscover her identity—just in time, she hopes, to welcome her next child. In the forty weeks of her pregnancy, Chute grapples with her strained marriage, shaken faith, and medical diagnosis, with profound results. Glowing with riveting and gorgeous prose, Expecting Sunshine chronicles the anticipation and anxiety of expecting a baby while still grieving for the child that came before—enveloping readers with insightful observations on grief and healing, life and death, and the incredible power of a mother’s love. Letter from a reader:I just finished your beautiful book Expecting Sunshine and felt compelled to reach out and say thank you. A few days after I found out I miscarried, a few days before my D&C, I went to Barnes & Noble in hopes of finding a guidebook or self-help book of how to heal and cope with miscarriage or loss of a child. I searched every feasible location: self-help, psychology, family planning, childcare. With tears in my eyes I was too embarrassed to ask anyone at the counter for help. There I was already utterly heartbroken and feeling more alone than ever. Not a single book for me to turn to. I pulled out my phone, googled “books about miscarriage” and found your book and ordered it on the spot. It must not have been easy for you and your family to share your story, but I hope you know what an impact you’ve had on me and likely so many other women. You’ve given me so much hope for my year ahead. —Katie Rhodes, Oakland, CaliforniaSecond Edition includes: Bonus chapter written from the author’s husband’s perspective. Plus, resource section, group discussion questions, and Q&A with author Alexis Marie Chutewww. ExpectingSunshine. com

Kindle Price: $8.16

Category: Health, Fitness & Dieting

When frumpy senior citizen Archie goes in search of his missing son in the Spanish Canary Islands, he stumbles upon a higher mission: locating a magical cure for his ailing fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Ella. Using a portal-jumping device called the Tillastrion, Archie and a stone-headed creature named Zeno are transported to Jarr-Wya, a magnificent yet terrifying island in a connected realm—along with Ella and her strong-willed mother, Tessa, who accidentally stow away on this not-so-secret quest. What they find on Jarr-Wya is an island tortured by a wicked Star anchored in the sea, and a raging three-way battle for dominion between the stone-wielding Bangols, the fiery Olearons, and the evil Millia sands. Ella’s wit and resourcefulness emerge in this new world, while Tessa is forced to confront her long-buried secrets and a confusing new love triangle. When Ella is captured, Tessa and Archie—with the help of a company of peculiar allies—set out to save her and unravel the terrible mystery of her cure. A mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night adventure of three unlikely heroes, Above the Star reminds us that even the smallest act of bravery can transform our lives and the fates of the worlds around us.

Kindle Price: $7.99

Category: Teen & Young Adult

Ella Wellsley is not your typical teenager. Cancer left her mute, but not powerless. Trapped in a parallel dimension, Ella rallies her strength to join her family—her mother, Tessa, her grandpa Archie, and her magical boyfriend—in locating the cure to her illness. This cure is entangled in the fate of all worlds, and threatened by the presence of an evil Star anchored in the sea. The Star has thrown life everywhere into chaos—and it is Ella who holds the key to unlocking its mystery. Caught in a web of betrayal, mistaken identities, secrets, and love triangles, Ella, Tessa, and Archie must overcome their troubled pasts to ensure a future for all worlds. On this journey—armed with unearthly abilities and unexpected allies—each member of the Wellsley family will learn the power of love in the face of their greatest fears.

Kindle Price: $8.69

Category: Teen & Young Adult

All worlds are dying, and it’s up to one broken and dysfunctional family from Earth—the Wellsleys—to save the day. Cancer-ridden Ella celebrates her fifteenth birthday beneath an enchanted mountain, but it is what lies even farther below—the mysterious Star in the sea—that demands she grow up quickly. While Ella grapples with the sacrifice she must make and the lies she is forced to tell, her mother, Tessa, is hell-bent on protecting her. Through bizarre encounters, love-sick Tessa realizes that she is not the lonely orphan she believes. Her husband, Arden, and father-in-law, Archie, are not the only ones with magical bloodlines. This revelation changes everything. As Archie chooses to embody his unexpected ancestry, he learns that leading the charge in the ultimate battle against evil won’t be as easy as he thought. He’ll need his family—and the strange allies he has gained—by his side to give Ella enough time to set things right. Can they defeat the unstoppable Millia sands—and another unexpected foe—before everything they hold dear is destroyed? Or will their adventure tear them apart for good? The finale to The 8th Island Trilogy will hold you spellbound until the final page, and long after.

Kindle Price: $8.99

Category: Teen & Young Adult