Writing About Loss, Illness & Disability: Three Memoirists on Pain and Hope

Stephen’s daughter died of a rare disease and his wife, of cancer. Darcey underwent back surgery and explored the historical contexts of pain. Avra was struck by a car and endured amputation of her leg and months of rehab. They will talk about how they coped with life-altering trauma and why, when, and how they chose to write about it.

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Stephen Policoff’s first novel, Beautiful Somewhere Else, won the James Jones Award and was published by Carroll & Graf in 2004. His second novel, Come Away, won the Dzanc Award and was published by Dzanc Books in 2014. His third novel, Dangerous Blues, was published in 2022 by Flexible Press. Recently retired, he was a clinical professor of writing in Liberal Studies at NYU for many years. Several pieces of this memoir were first published in december, Riddlebird, Entropy Literary Journal, and Oyster River Pages. A section on his daughter Anna’s joyous experience in music therapy won the Fish Short Memoir Award in 2012, and subsequently appeared on music therapy websites around the world.

Darcey Steinke is most recently the author of the memoir This Is the Door. Her other books include the memoirs Flash Count Diary and Easter Everywhere and five novels. Her books have been translated into ten languages, and many have been New York Times Notables. Her nonfiction has appeared widely and she often writes about art. Her web story "Blindspot" was a part of the 2000 Whitney Biennial. She has been a Henry Hoyns Fellow, a Stegner Fellow, Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi and on the long list of the Independent Book Award and the Arles Author Prize. She has taught at the Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University, Princeton, and the American University of Paris. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn.

Avra Wing is a poet, novelist and teacher whose debut novel, Angie, I Says, was adapted into a feature film, Angie, starring Geena Davis and James Gandolfini. Her second novel for young adults was After Isaac. She has led writing workshops for people with disabilities since 2009 and is a passionate advocate for creative expression as a path to healing. She has three adult children and lives with her husband and cats in Brooklyn.