Kristen Phillips
Kristen Phillips is a writer and dementia books reviewer. Dad, You’ve Got Dementia: Conversations with my father, her first book, is due from The Cuba Press in July, 2023.
Kristen Phillips was born in Aotearoa NZ, of Scottish and English descent. She has lived most of her adult life with the writer Mia Farlane in London. After winning the poetry category of a South London writing competition, she went on to attend several courses at The Poetry School.
Currently based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, she reviews fiction and nonfiction for The New Zealand Dementia Foundation and works for Dementia Wellington. Dad, You’ve Got Dementia is her first book.
Genre:
- Autobiography / Memoir
Skills:
- Public Speaking
- Readings (adults)
- Reviews
Branch:
Wellington
Location:
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Publications:
Dad, You've Got Dementia: Conversations with my father (The Cuba Press, 2023)
Memoir / creative nonfiction
Endorsements
‘Lyrical, honest, unfailingly loving: a portrait of the power of connection, even when there are no more words’
— Charity Norman, author of Remember Me
‘This book will aid and encourage people caring for someone with dementia (whether family or professional) to listen and attend to the person who, despite the inexorable changes, is still there’
— Dr Chris Perkins, author of Dementia: What You Need to Know
‘I recommend this to anyone who has interest in or experience of dementia; health workers, family and loved ones, and those living with dementia themselves will find this powerful, intimate account both deeply moving and affirming’
— Dr Fran McInerney, adjunct professor at The Wicking Dementia Research & Education Centre, Tasmania
Dad, You’ve Got Dementia (The Cuba Press, July 2023)
When Kristen’s father, Don, was diagnosed with dementia the signs had been there for five years. He’d gone out less and less, given up driving and table tennis and relied increasingly on his wife, Penny. Conversations went in circles.
Kristen started trying different ways to get her dad back – not the dad who could recall what was said or retain facts about his family, but the one who was patient, curious and funny. Who said, ‘I could talk with you for hours.’
She realised as he searched for words that weren’t there and reached for new ones, that the words he was finding and how he fitted them together felt like poetry. And Kristen, a poet, began writing it down.
Dad, You’ve Got Dementia is not about what is being lost on a daily basis but what there is still to find. It shows people living with dementia and their whānau that it’s possible to stay connected with those they love.
Cover design: Paul Stewart and Sarah Bolland