Creativity isn't the birthright of rare geniuses-it's an essential, accessible toolkit for every person trying to survive.
In Ordinary Creativity: How to Survive with Joy, Heather Caliri unpacks how eugenicists, misogynists and racists skewed our understanding of creativity, reframes human ingenuity to include experiences like caregiving, disability, and suffering, and helps you claim your own way of being creative with unapologetic delight.
Endorsements
"Ordinary Creativity demystifies the creative life, reframing it into something accessible and achievable every day. In the voice of a dear friend, Heather Caliri inspires her reader not to the heights of creative genius as the world would typically define it, but to the deep, inherent value of making, with an expansive, inclusive definition that will ignite long dormant sparks of creativity."
-Joy McCullough, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Water Paint
"In Ordinary Creativity, Heather Caliri debunks the ideals we often have about creativity and provides a beautifully expansive, inclusive perspective that fits with the messiness of everyday life. She offers compassionate, encouraging, and balanced guidance to the creative spirit within each of us. This is a gem of a book that has wonderful nuggets of wisdom on every page."
-Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, author of Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways
"Ordinary Creativity is a powerful and gentle invitation to those who wish to make something but have felt hindered-perhaps by time, cultural pressures, ideas about genius, or simply feeling like it doesn't matter. It does.
Don't wait any longer.
Journey with a wise guide whose encouragements steer us toward wholeness in a landscape where the new and flashy so often eclipse the good creative work of a lifetime."
-Daniel Bowman Jr., author of On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, and the Gifts of Neurodiversity and A Plum Tree in Leatherstocking Country: Poems
"There's no better resource for shaking off limiting beliefs around creativity and reconnecting to your inner spark than Heather Caliri's book, Ordinary Creativity. Reading it will gently challenge you, make you laugh, and open up a world of possibility within you."