In the face of unimaginably violent systems, our most vulnerable bodies — sick, disabled, unable to rise from bed — offer the resistance of imperative vulnerability. What can we learn from the body that cannot help but fail? Leora Fridman's Static Palace weaves the writer’s experiences of chronic illness and activism to position sick and disabled bodies as sources of wisdom in apocalyptic times. Joining her in conversation will be Chloe Caldwell, author of many books including, most recently, The Red Zone, a searching, galvanizing memoir about blood and love, gender and relationship. Join us for a reading and conversation about gendered illness, medical diagnosis, and what it means to make community--and art--within these frames.

Chloe Caldwell is the author of four books: The Red Zone: A Love Story, the essay collection I’ll Tell You in Person, the critically acclaimed novella, WOMEN, and Legs Get Led Astray. Chloe’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, Bon Appétit, The Cut, The Strategist, Romper, Buzzfeed, Longreads, Vice, Nylon, Salon, The Rumpus, The Sun, and half a dozen anthologies including Goodbye To All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving NYC and Without A Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class. Her essay “Hungry Ghost” was listed as Notable in 2018 Best American Non Required Reading. She lives in Hudson, NY.

Leora Fridman is a writer whose work is concerned with issues of identity, care, ability, and embodiment. She's author, most recently, of STATIC PALACE, a collection of essays about chronic illness, art and politics (punctum books 2022) in addition to other books of prose, poetry and translation. Her work appears or is forthcoming in the Millions, the New York Times, the Rumpus, Tricycle Magazine, Open Space, Matters of Feminist Practice and the Believer, among others. She has taught online and in person in universities, homes and retreat centers, and collaborates widely with artists, writers and community groups. She is a recipient of support, grants and residencies from organizations including Fulbright, Creative Capital / Andy Warhol Foundation, Caldera, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is currently Curator in Residence at the Jewish Museum of Maryland and Faculty Associate in the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University. More at leorafridman.com.

This is a Free event, RSVP requested.