Join the Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series Committee for "An Evening with Esmé Weijun Wang Success Redefined: Breaking the Stigma Around Mental Health on Monday, April 17, at 7 p.m. in Gordon Dining and Events Center. The one-hour lecture and 30-minute Q&A session is free and open to students, staff, and the public. This is an in-person event with a book signing following the event from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Please contact dls@union.wisc.edu.
Esmé Weijun Wang believes in creativity, resilience, and legacy. She is a novelist and essayist who was named by Granta as one of the "Best of Young American Novelists" in their once-in-a-decade list.
Esmé's New York Times-bestselling essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias, won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize and the Whiting Award for Nonfiction. Of the collection, NPR writes, "The Collected Schizophrenias is riveting, honest...we are lucky to have it in the world." Her debut novel, The Border of Paradise, was named a Best Book of 2016 by NPR and one of the 25 Best Novels of 2016 by Electric Literature.
In 2015, Esmé was diagnosed with the late-stage Lyme disease, and she also lives with schizoaffective disorder. While these conditions create boundaries, they also inspire her to guide and support other who are dealing with difficult times. Esmé's blog, "the Unexpected Shape," provides encouragement, advice, and resources for people living with limitations. And she's designed an online course, Rawness of Remembering, to teach the skills needed for withstanding challenging circumstances via restorative journaling.
In school, Esmé was known as the class clown. The highlight of her comedic career was when she made it to callback for Yale's oldest sketch comedy troupe.
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This is a past event and has been archived for reference.