This reading and discussion will celebrate the diverse experiences and talents of writers with disabilities. The event features Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture. Wong is also the editor of the anthology Disability Visibility, which features work from Elsa Sjunneson, author of Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism and Jamison Hill, whose book Force Meets Fate is a memoir of chronic illness, vulnerability, and perseverance. Joining these authors are Spokane writers Emalee Gillis, author of The Other Side of Madness: Adventures on the Path to Living Well with a Mental Illness and Travis Naught, author of the poetry collection The Virgin Journals and the novel, Joyride. Travis will lead the authors in a discussion following their readings. This event will include live captioning and an ASL interpreter.
*We will be adding a direct link to view this event on our YouTube page when it is available.*
*Please use this link to purchase books via our festival bookseller, Auntie's Bookstore.*
Elsa Sjunneson
Hugo, Aurora and BFA award winning editor and author Elsa Sjunneson is a Deafblind hurricane in a vintage dress. Her work has appeared on metro.co.uk, CNN Opinion, The Boston Globe and many other venues, as well as being part of the writing team behind Serial Box Presents Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire. Her memoir, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism releases in October of 2021. Elsa has an MA in Women's History from Sarah Lawrence College, and likes playing with swords for fun. She lives in Seattle, WA.
Emalee Gillis
Emalee’a journey with bipolar disorder began when she woke up in a cage-like enclosure in a primitive insane asylum in Africa, shortly after she completed her Peace Corps service. At one point, bipolar disorder dominated her life. Over the next 35 years, she learned to manage her illness using lessons she learned in Africa as well as from the West. Her strategies were innovative enough to be selected for a TEDx Talk presented in Coeur d’Alene on January 12, 2019. Emalee is dedicated to sharing her stories and strategies with others. Her freelance pieces covering mental health, historical and human interest topics appeared in numerous regional magazines. The Other Side of Madness: Adventures on the Path to Living Well with a Mental Illness is her first memoir and is available through Amazon. Emalee lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. She is currently pursuing a MFA in Creative Writing at EWU. She has two adult children.
Alice Wong
Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. Currently, Alice is the editor of Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, an anthology of essays by disabled people, available now by Vintage Books (2020). You can find her on Twitter: @SFdirewolf.
Jamison Hill
Jamison Hill has written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He has been featured on Netflix, as well as WBUR's Modern Love podcast and Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast.
Travis Laurence Naught
Travis Laurence Naught is an author who happens to be a quadriplegic wheelchair user with a tracheostomy. He was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at age 16 months. Doctors performed a life extending spinal fusion surgery on Travis at age 7 and a lifesaving tracheostomy surgery at age 35. His poetry volume, The Virgin Journals (2012, ASD Publishing), and novel, Joyride (2016, Black Rose Writing), are widely available in paperback. Comic books, coffee, and collaborating with cool people give Travis life on a daily basis! Check out naughtapoet.blogspot.com for more of his writing and information.