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| Shakti Gawain | |
Shakti Gawain, co-founder of New World Library and a bestselling author, died on November 11 at age 70.
Originally named Carol Louise Gawain, Gawain met Marc Allen, with whom she co-founded the publishing house, in 1974. He nicknamed her Shakti, which is the Sanskrit word for the divine feminine creative force.
The two led workshops together and wrote and produced educational booklets in the kitchen of their small apartment in Oakland, Calif. Their shoestring operation began with very little capital and minimal sales. That changed with the publication of Gawain's first book, Creative Visualization, which had strong word-of-mouth sales. Then, in the early 1980s, Oprah Winfrey invited her to be a guest on her yet-to-be-syndicated television show.
When the Oprah Winfrey Show went national in 1986 and re-aired the interview with Gawain, Creative Visualization became an international bestseller--and has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. And New World Library, which was called Whatever Publishing at the time, became established.
Gawain wrote several other books, including Living in the Light, Return to the Garden, The Path of Transformation, The Four Levels of Healing, Creating True Prosperity, and Developing Intuition. Altogether her books have sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into 38 languages.
In 1992, Gawain left New World Library to start a publishing company called Nataraj Publishing with her husband, Jim Burns. She also opened a healing center in Mill Valley, Calif. She spent the rest of her career mentoring individuals, publishing books, and offering workshops.
Gawain was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the late 1990s and later with Lewy body disease. As her obituary recounted, "She lived with the diagnosis with the amazing strength and grace that made her who she was. In 2015, Shakti made the hard decision to step back from her public life so that she could focus on her own healing and spend time with Jim. With him by her side, she passed away peacefully from complications following hip surgery."
Memorial contributions can be made in Gawain's name to the Lewy Body Dementia Association.