S221.
Exorcising Your Demons: Mental Illness in YA & New Adult Literature
Saturday, March 26, 2022
3:20 pm to 4:35 pm
Mental Illness has young people going to extreme lengths to stay afloat. The isolation post-COVID has presented new challenges for this audience (and their families) struggling for acceptance amid increased alcoholism, divorce, family rejection, voices in their heads, and larger judgmental voices in the world. Our group of diverse gendered panelists of different ages, ethnicities, and orientations, will explore these challenges and how the act of writing has enabled us to exorcise our demons.
Participants
Pamela L. Laskin teaches graduate children's writing and directs the Poetry Outreach Center at the City College. She is the 2019 winner of the Leapfrog International Fiction contest for Why No Bhine. Atmosphere Press will soon be publishing The Lost Language of Crazy, a book about mental illness.
Suzanne Weyn is best known for her award-winning Bar Code Tattoo trilogy and her eco thriller, Empty. She teaches writing and children's literature at the City University of New York. Her comedic middle grade novel, Snapstreak, came out in 2018. Find her at suzanneweynbooks.com.
Hiram Lorenzen is a graduate student in the City College of New York's creative writing program. He focuses on queer-positive narratives, trauma, and remarkable resilience.
K. Ibura
