In 2019, Innisfil resident and spiritual podcaster Claudiu Murgan was attending a street event in Toronto and noticed children playing a game that peaked his interest.
The game is called “love letters to your city” and he found the idea interesting and thought it could be utilized as a way to tell stories about water.
“I parked the idea in my mind and in 2020, I started a podcast and while interviewing my guests we talked about water and their interaction with water in their childhood and adulthood,” said Murgan. “It dawned on me that they could be the contributors to the anthology I had in mind.”
Thus began the birth of Love Letters to Water, an anthology that consists of stories, poetry, and essays about the love and importance of water in the human experience, that was edited and produced by Murgan.
“I started reaching out to my podcast guests and telling them we could donate the funds to water related projects,” said Murgan. “Everyone was interested and some of the contributors recommended others. That’s how it started.”
With 34 contributors from 14 countries, the anthology was published by Manor House Publishing.
“It’s a very interesting mix because usually you don’t see an anthology that’s mixing North American and European authors with African authors,” Murgan explained. “We have authors from all over the world and they all have water in common. If you read the poetry from the authors from Africa, you understand how close they are to water and how different their perception of water is to the North American perspective. To them water is everything, it’s their main concern in life because without water, nothing can be done.”
The contributors consist of shamans, energy healers, scientists, economists, musicians, and poets.
“They all bring forward their experiences in life with water,” said Murgan. “It’s been enlightening for me because I wrote two books about water and I’ve talked to neurologists and people involved in water research and realized that we don’t know too much about water. So for me it was so interesting to put together this anthology because I’ve dealt with so many professionals and learned from so many about water.”
The book cover image was donated by 13-year-old Toronto artist Sophia Leopold-Muresan.
“It adds another angle to how children and teenagers see water,” Murgan said. “They’re willing to bring forward their innocence to water and teach the adults from their perspective.”
Proceeds from sales of Love Letters to Water will be donated to Garden for Education and Healing Orphanage in Bamenda, Cameroon.
“One of our contributors is from Cameroon and she spent time at the orphanage and she sent me pictures of how hard it is for these children to be provided with clean water,” said Murgan. “Their water pump has broken and there’s no money for them, the government doesn’t provide anything and the orphanage lives on donations. The funding is scarce and not too many people pay attention to the needs of those kids.”
Love Letters to Water can be found here and people can learn more about the anthology here.
