Tuesday November 12th at 6:30PM
Trident Author Series
Victress Hitchcock
A Tree With My Name On It (Finding a Way Home)
Book/Memoir Info:
As the 20th century careened towards the finishing line, author Victress Hitchcock moved with her husband of 25 years from their familiar urban world to a 160-acre historic ranch in the Wet Mountains, a range in the Colorado Rockies so remote no one they knew had ever heard of it. Within months, their lives unraveled, and out of the wreckage a path opened to a radically new way to be in the world, broken hearted and ready to meet whatever was to come with insight, horse sense, and humor.
A Tree With My Name On It: Finding a Way Home is not a handbook on healing trauma. It is a living, breathing, messy story of one woman trying her hardest to free her wounded heart and uncover her true self.
It is a story, filled with joy and sorrow, unexpected wisdom, and raunchy humor that will resonate with anyone who has reached that moment in their lives when they are ready to tear off the bandage, and take a deep look at the old wounds, lifelong assumptions and fears that have been holding them hostage for too long.
About the Author:
Born into a globetrotting foreign service family after WWII, Victress began her adventures at four. By the age of ten, she’d called London, Paris, and Madrid home. An only child, she developed resilience and a curiosity about the world, and found solace in books.
After graduating from Holton Arms School for Girls, she went off to the University of Colorado, but after a year of tuning in and turning on, she dropped out and traveled to her parents’ serendipitous new post – Calcutta, India in 1967. There, she volunteered with Mother Teresa, taught English to Tibetan refugees, explored the Himalayas, and encountered the world of Tibetan Buddhism.
While studying at the London Film School, a chance encounter with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972 ignited her Buddhist practice. She became a founding member of Centre Productions, a film company he established in Boulder, Colorado and began her career as a filmmaker. During this time, she married and raised two children.
In 1985, she launched her own company, Chariot Productions, creating award winning documentaries and educational films on social issues like addiction, gangs, and HIV/AIDS, for PBS and Discovery Education. Some are available for free on her Vimeo channel.
A 2005 pilgrimage with Tsoknyi Rinpoche to remote Eastern Tibet was the basis for a feature documentary – "Blessings: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet." Her next film "When the Iron Bird Flies: Tibetan Buddhism Arrives in the West," continued her commitment to bringing the Buddhist teachings to audiences around the world. Both films are available on Amazon and other streaming programs. In 2013, she was ordained as a Buddhist teacher.
Writing has always been her creative companion. After years of crafting screenplays, poems, and journals, she embarked on a full-time writing journey in 2017. This led to poetry collections and workshops that blend writing with contemplative practices.
In 2019, she began work on a long-gestating memoir. "A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home" explores an intense transformative two years living on a remote ranch, a time of personal upheaval and profound rediscovery. The book, published by Bold Story Press, to be released in the fall 2024, is a rich explorations of outer and inner landscapes observed through the lens of a contemplative and fearless eye.