I’ll be on two panels at next week’s Festival of Faith and Writing.
On Friday at 8:30 am *yikes* I’ll be talking about How Chronic Conditions Challenge and Enrich the Writing Life with Daniel Bowman, Jr., and Ellen Painter Dollar. Each of us lives with a chronic physical, mental, or neurobiological condition, and we’ll be discussing how our experiences impart hard-earned insight. I’ll be focusing on mental illness and creativity, but this discussion is for all writers invested in compassion, humility, creativity, and the unique ways that our gifts can grow from what we perceive to be our weaknesses. (Covenant Fine Arts Center, Room 115)
At 11:30 am, I’ll present on Memoir as Feminist Testimony with Amy Julia Becker, Alison Hodgson, Katherine Willis Pershey and Rachel Marie Stone. My remarks will focus on why I consider spiritual memoir to be an invitation to communion, not an act of self-absorption. #proudnavelgazer (Covenant Fine Arts Center, Auditorium)
My fellow Sick Pilgrim, Jon Ryan, will be speaking about Weird Fiction as Sacramental Practice at 3:15 Thursday in the Commons Annex Lecture Hall. Otherwise we’ll be going to see The Mountain Goats and hanging out with our pals from The Mudroom and raising several glasses to the forthcoming publication of The Sick Pilgrim’s Dark Devotional. And the forthcoming writing of said book. Gulp. You’ll know us by our matching (temporary) tats.
jessicamesman.com 