September 22, 2023

Session: Riveting Blazers - Recovery, Memoir and Daily Practice
In Leslie Jamison’s The Recovering, she observes: “If addiction stories run on the fuel of darkness—the hypnotic spiral of an ongoing, deepening crisis—then recovery is often seen as the narrative slack, the dull terrain of wellness, a tedious addendum to the riveting blaze.” Jamison joins in conversation with Mary Karr and Elizabeth Crane to speak about the narrative possibilities of recovery and aftermath: How can the story of rebuilding become as riveting as the story of falling apart? The writers will talk about the creative and emotional work of writing from life and the roles that recovery, community, and daily practice play in their writing lives.

Speakers:
Leslie Jamison (Associate Professor, Columbia University School of the Arts), Mary Karr (Peck Professor of Literature, Syracuse University), and Elizabeth Crane (Adjunct Associate Professor, UCR Palm Desert Low Residency MFA).

About Recovery in Practice

How do recovery journeys—both individual and collective—inspire creative processes, inform research trajectories, and build community? Join us for an innovative gathering of artists, authors, activists, and scientific researchers as they share their stories and foster conversations about what it means to practice recovery.

Through social practice artworks, scientific research, and creative writing, conference speakers will train students and community members in best practices, coalition building, and harm reduction to achieve social impact for the Columbia and Manhattanville communities. The conference will also attend carefully to the intersectional nexus between recovery and decarceration, foregrounding the voices of formerly incarcerated individuals.

This multi-part gathering is open to the public, and we especially encourage the entire Columbia community—students, faculty, staff—and all our neighbors in Manhattanville and beyond to engage.

https://sofheyman.org/events/recovery...