Walking With The Shadows, Leaving Them Behind: Selected Poems by the Pegasus Physician Writers at Stanford

by Hans Steiner, Richard D Mamelok, Audrey Shafer

The Pegasus Physician Writers at Stanford is a group of physicians who actively pursue two creative writing (poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction) and the practice of medicine. We come from all medical specialties. In addition to our own writing and medical activities, we have committed ourselves to mentor students, trainees, and junior faculty to help them become the best physicians and authors they can be. All members are expected to produce works that ultimately lead to publication.

The group was started by Hans Steiner and physician Irvin Yalom, Larry Zaroff (in memoriam), Audrey Shafer, Niranjan Karnik, and Julia Huemer. The intent was to create a writers’ circle for physicians. From these six individuals, the group has grown to over 150 members who meet regularly in small groups which are configured in the format of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. These groups aim to improve each member’s work by providing rigorous critical commentary.

We are grateful for the advice, guidance, and support we receive from our honorary advisory board which consists of award-winning and acclaimed historians, poets, authors of fiction, and biographers, all having the goal of fostering the humanistic development of our members.

We present our literary work to the public in three diverse ways. 1) A series of public readings on the Stanford campus, open and free to the public, 2) Published anthologies, organized by genre, of literary non-fiction, poetry and fiction and
3) The Pegasus Review, a medical literary journal that appears at least once a year in print and on the web.

Our public presentations highlight the mission and vision we have set for The Pegasus Physician Writers at to produce well-crafted expressions of the human condition informed by the unique insights granted to us by our medical training and practice of medicine.

177 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2022