PROJECT SEMICOLON

This nonfiction teen book from the suicide-awareness organization and storytelling platform Project Semicolon combines photos of semicolon tattoos with individuals' stories about their struggles with mental illness.

A semicolon tattoo says you are choosing to continue your life story rather than end it — and hundreds of people from around the world have joined the semicolon movement by getting tattoos; these are their stories.

Amy Bleuel began Project Semicolon in 2013 to spread a message of hope: no one struggling with mental illness is alone; you, too, can survive and live a life filled with joy and love. In support of the project and its message, hundreds of people all over the world have gotten semicolon tattoos and shared photos of them, often alongside stories of hardship, growth, and rebirth.

Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn’t Over reveals dozens of never-before-seen portraits and stories from people of all ages talking about what they have endured and what they want for their futures. At once heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, and eternally hopeful, all these lives tell the story of choice: Every day, you choose to live and let your story be forever.

Amy Bleuel, the founder and president of Project Semicolon, currently resides in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with her husband, David. During her life, Amy has struggled with mental illness and substance abuse and, at the age of eighteen, she lost her father to suicide. All of these hardships drove Amy to start Project Semicolon and to begin inspiring others through the organization.