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Livestream Reading: Ellen Michaelson with Natalie Serber
November 10, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
FreeAnnie Bloom’s welcomes Portland author Ellen Michaelson for a livestream reading from her debut novel, The Care of Strangers. She will be in conversation with fellow Portland writer Natalie Serber, author of Community Chest.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkdOGvpzktHNUZ-aF_D6euq8AY-lWb8C1d
About The Care of Strangers:
Winner of the 2019 Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize, The Care of Strangers is a moving story about friendship set in a gritty Brooklyn hospital, where a young woman learns to take charge of her life by taking care of others. Working as an orderly in a gritty Brooklyn public hospital, Sima is often reminded by her superiors that she’s the least important person there. An immigrant who, with her mother, escaped vicious anti-Semitism in Poland, she spends her shifts transporting patients, observing the doctors and residents … and quietly nurturing her aspirations to become a doctor herself by going to night school. Now just one credit short of graduating, she finds herself faltering in the face of pressure from her mother not to overreach, and to settle for the life she has now. Everything changes when Sima encounters Mindy Kahn, an intern doctor struggling through her residency. Sensing a fellow outsider in need of support, Sima bonds with Mindy over their patients, and learns the power of truly letting yourself care for another person, helping to give her the courage to face her past, and take control of her future. A moving story about vulnerability and friendship, The Care of Strangers is the story of one woman’s discovery that sometimes interactions with strangers are the best way to find yourself.
About Ellen Michaelson:
Ellen Michaelson is a physician in Portland, Oregon, and an MFA graduate from Pacific University. Her work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Portland Monthly, Women in Solitude (SUNY Press), and Literature in Medicine. This is her first book.
About Community Chest:
Diagnosed with breast cancer, Natalie Serber did the only thing she could: she wrote her way through the confusion and fear. In this fierce and good-humored memoir, she maintains her sense of gratitude and grace. “I loved Natalie Serber’s smart, funny and bittersweet report from the Land of Breast Cancer. Fear and grief take turns with an “almost normal day”; kindness and honesty collide with “irrational” rage. While generously detailing the unique aspects of her personal journey, she also manages to honor the collective experience so many (too many!) of us have shared. Now we have this story to share too.” —Elizabeth Rosner, author of Electric City, Blue Nude, and The Speed of Light
About Natalie Serber:
Natalie Serber is the author of three books, Shout Her Lovely Name, a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, and a summer reading selection from O, the Oprah Magazine. Community Chest, a memoir, and her novel-in-stories, Must Be Nice, which is currently seeking representation. Her fiction has appeared in One Story Magazine, Zyzzyva Magazine, The Bellingham Review, and others. Essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Rumpus, Salon, and others. Natalie is currently working on a memoir.