Events Calendar

"Power and Bodies of Art"

Join award-winning author Kiese Laymon in a conversation  with child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Catharyn Turner, moderated by writer Darius Stewart, as they consider the intersection of story and power, and what it means for our bodies.

In the words of Viet Thanh Nguyen, "Literature and power cannot be separated." Story and power cannot be separated. If equity is our pursuit, we must also strive to understand how power relates to the stories that are told about us, the stories we tell about ourselves, and the consequences in the world, including access to humane, equitable healthcare. This has never been more urgent at this moment of converging public health crises, a global pandemic and an antiracist reckoning.

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times.

The event is free and open to the public.

This event is co-sponsored by the Creative Matters lecture series, the Carver College of Medicine, and the Nonfiction Writing Program. It is a part of the Art and the Pursuit of Social Justice series.