Les (L.M.) Browning (they/them) is a bestselling poet whose hybrid of introspective travel writing and visual art focuses on the alchemizing of trauma through active awe-seeking and a re-wilding of one’s life and self.

Over the last ten years, Les founded Homebound Publications, Wayfarer Books, and The Wayfarer Magazine. Their own published works have received five Pushcart Prize nominations, two Foreword Review Book Awards, and the Nautilus Gold Medal for Poetry.

Since the release of their micro-memoir, To Lose the Madness: Field Notes on Trauma, Loss and Radical Authenticity, and the subsequent TEDx Talk at Yale based on the book, Browning has worked tirelessly as a Mental Health Advocate and publicly shares their own struggle with cptsd as a means to help lift the stigma of mental illness through storytelling.

Recently Browning accepted a position on ct-nami’s Lived Experience Committee and received national certification as a Survivor of Suicide Attempt Group Peer Facilitator through the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Foundation in Los Angeles. They are a graduate of the University of London and Harvard University. 

Vagabond-turned-homesteader, Les is currently posted up at Wayfarer Farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, where they are solo homesteading 15 acres of raw land in their own modern Walden.

tedx talk

In 2018, Les presented their TEDx Talk at Yale University’s TEDx 2018 “Uncharted” Conference based on their own journey with successive trauma and search for different means of transcending that suffering into something of meaning. 

interviews

Future Primitive | Radical Authenticity

Future Primitive | Radical Authenticity

In this week’s episode Leslie M. Browning speaks with Joanna about: learning to move forward with traumatic experiences; healing is a journey; making meaning out of the loss; connected in vulnerability; the healing magic and beauty of the American Southwest; the solace and nurturance of the “wild silence”…

In the Balance Interview | Podcast

In the Balance Interview | Podcast

This week on In the Balance, Susan Lambert and I sit down. I set out to understand my own trauma, not to write a book. But, as I discovered, intentions can have their own glorious and wild mind, and I ended up with my personal essay/ memoir, To Lose the...

Our Fractured Minds Podcast Interview

Our Fractured Minds Podcast Interview

Recently I had the privilege of appearing on the Our Fractured Minds podcast with Jeff Renoe to discuss my new book, To Lose the Madness: Field Notes on Trauma, Loss and Radical Authenticity as well as my diagnoses of C-PTSD, Depression and Mild...

L.M. Browning on the Give and Take Podcast

L.M. Browning on the Give and Take Podcast

I recently sat down with Scott Jones over at the Give and Take Podcast to talk about the stories behind my new book To Lose the Madness: Field Notes on Trauma, Loss and Radical Authenticity. The tale in this book is a messy one, but it has taught me many...

The Surreal Experience That Is a TEDx Talk

The Surreal Experience That Is a TEDx Talk

Giving a TEDx Talk will stand as one of the most surreal, terrifying, and wonderful experiences of my life. (Terrifying because the topic I chose to speak on was so very intimate and I wanted to do it justice...not go into robot-mode or worse just have an emotional...

Messy Roads to Motherhood | Podcast Interview

Messy Roads to Motherhood | Podcast Interview

I recently had a chance to sit down with Sarah Aschkenas from Messy Roads to Motherhood podcast to talk about the difficult road I had after my miscarriage and the chronicle of it I put forth in To Lose the Madness: Field Notes on Trauma, Loss and Radical...

Grief Out Loud | Podcast Interview

Grief Out Loud | Podcast Interview

I recently had the chance to sit down with Jana DeCristofaro from the Grief Out Loud podcast to discuss the nature of grief and loss of a child . . .

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