Conscious Grief Series 3

Mark Lemon

My name is Mark Lemon. I live in Bristol (originally from Cambridge) with my beautiful wife Simone and our two children, Otis & Thea. I moved here to be with Simone in 2011, after living in London (on and off) for ten years.

In 2015, I started writing children’s books for my mixed-heritage children after noticing a lack of representation of diversity in the mainstream bookshops across the UK. I originally started this page as a way of shouting about our children’s books, but I’ve now gone on to share, write and talk about the taboo subject of grief and it’s affects on mental health.

In 1992, my father was murdered and my world changed forever. For many years I wouldn’t talk about what happened to my dad and this affected my mental health. Five years ago I was approached by The Guardian newspaper to write an article about what happened to my family. Writing this article opened up a passion to want to help children & young people experiencing grief at an early age. I’ve now carried out public speaking for BBC Radio 1, Sky News, Natwest, presented at conferences and facilitated & presented interviews for the Good Grief Festival In 2018, I wrote my children’s bereavement book, The Magical Wood. I wanted to write a book that might have helped me as a boy. With two Junior Magazine Online awards, I’m hugely proud of how far we have come.

In 2019, I decided to launch my podcast Grief Is My Superpower to continue the conversation surrounding grief – interviewing my inspiring guests that have gone on to succeed in their fields after the life-changing death of a loved one. With over 100,000 downloads, the podcast has been a cathartic and helpful forum for me and my amazing listeners. It’s now my passion to want to continue to help give some sense of grief.