As a longtime teacher of writing at New York University, Stephen Policoff has always relied on that medium to sort out his feelings. “I know some people are incapable of putting their feelings into words,” he said from his home in Greenwich Village, “but writing has been the way I process all that I’ve gone through in my life. The creative act of putting words on paper is a healthy way for me to process my joys and sorrows.”
Policoff, who grew up in the Albany area and graduated from Albany Academy, has recently published his first memoir and fourth book overall, titled “A Ribbon for Your Hair: Loss. More Loss. And How We (Sort of) Went On” (Heliotrope Books). His beautifully written story describes the dual tragedies he faced when his wife died of cancer in 2012 and, only three years later, his 20-year-old daughter Anna died from Niemann-Pick Type C, a rare, genetic progressive disease that can lead to death. Anna was diagnosed when she was only 5 years old.
“It was difficult to write about Anna. I knew it was necessary and that I needed to do it. I did become quite emotional, but it also allowed me to recall how even though she was quite ill as a young child, children her age accepted her.”…