Claiming Space for the Self: Limitation and Liberation

What does it mean to unapologetically take up space when your body is different from everyone else’s? Born with the rare congenital condition sacral agenesis, Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty) learned to cope with her physical pain—and the attention her gait and stature attracted—by retreating into her inner world. When she unexpectedly became a mother, she set off on a globe-spanning journey to reclaim the spaces she’d been denied, and denied herself. For Jan Grue (I Live a Life Like Yours), living with spinal muscular atrophy has reaped astonishing insights on what it means to be human, explored in a “quietly brilliant book” (The New York Times) about “everything I wanted and how I came to be in possession of it.” This is a powerful conversation about finding and inhabiting your place in the world, and letting no one else define it.

The bookstore partner for this session is Pegasus Books! Buy the books online on their website, on Bookshop.org, or purchase them in person at the Festival. More information here.

Book signing information: 3 PM, Pegasus Books, right outside the Ballroom

With the support of the Norway House Foundation and NORLA - Norwegian Literature Abroad