"Courage to Create" by Clare McCallan is geared towards Catholic audiences for finding ways to be creative. As a non-Catholic Christian there were many ways I can see how the book can inspire me to look for ways to express my creativity and faith together and the book gives several suggestions. The author writes this as a memoir based on her own experiences with poetry and other writing as well as how she set up and runs a Catholic artist collective. She is clear on mistakes made, how she's grown from them and how she looks to correct those mistakes in future interactions.

The book has questions/challenges at the end of each chapter and a place to journal those answers. It's a nice way to contemplate ideas. She also has artist interviews where the artists each talk about their creativity journey. The book is applicable to artists of all types - writing, painting, drawing, film, clothing and other art types.

There are many encouraging bible verses sprinkled throughout the book. One chapter does talk about the process of art being similar to childbirth - the connection is written out but it might be a trigger for some that have had the loss of a child.

Overall the book gives some good food for thought for Christian artists and may be an encouragement to some that might be in the beginning of creating their art. For some that have been in their art journey for awhile, it might be a place to refuel. The book is short and easy to read .It can be done as a bible study or personal study.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ave Maria Press for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book 31 of 2024
Courage to Create
By Clare McCallan
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟/5

Part memoir, part devotion, and part how to guide for building an arts community, this all comes together in Courage to Create. I don't consider myself an artist yet I could still take the ideas presented and apply them to my own life. Truth, beauty and goodness matter....and Courage to Create reminds us of this.

I found Courage to Create: Unleashing Your Artistic Gifts for Truth, Beauty, and Goodness absolutely fascinating.

Author Clare McCallan has penned a work that pays homage to artists and the founts of creativity within them. Her prose soars off the page with all the loveliness of fireworks on a summer night. This book is simply a joy to read, paying tribute as it does to the divine spark which lies within the artist's soul.

McCallan inspires artisans of every type to create something meaningful that will reflect the awesome nature of their Creator. As a poet herself, she has a deep appreciation for the struggles that face those who are striving to create works of beauty.

Artists of every age will find both wisdom and grit on the pages of Courage to Create. It is a hymn to creativity that is destined to linger within the reader's mind for a long time to come.

This book is very analytical and deep, yet still relatable to creative types of all kinds. This book would be a great textbook supplement or required reading for college students or even higher level high schoolers. The concepts, while written in rich language, are easy to digest.