Nomad Press at UCSF: Mental Health and Creative Practice
If you’re interested in connecting with local authors, exploring the topic of mental illness, and engaging in the creative process, you owe it to yourself to attend Nomadic Press at UCSF: Mental Health and Creative Practice.
On the evening of December 7, distinguished Bay Area writers Arisa White, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Natasha Dennerstein, MK Chavez, and René Vaz will be coming to UCSF’s Millberry Union Event and Meeting Center to lead a panel discussing mental health maintenance and how it pertains to their own work. Following this panel, attendees will split into author-led focus groups to work through more specific topics of interest within this theme.
These topics include Out of Mind, Into Body: Somatic-based Writing Techniques, Queers Rewrite: Intersectional Identities and Mental Health, Owning My Diagnosis: Writing as a Person Living with Depression/ Schizophrenia/Bipolar Disorder, PTSD and Decolonizing Trauma, Self-care Toolkits, and Writing as Confession: Insertion of the "I" and "Me" as Resistance.
As many students at UCSF are aware, wellness and self-care is a growing subject of concern as we navigate our academic, professional, and political spaces. The Graduate and Professional Student Association, which is sponsoring the event, has made it a focus of their events this year.
These authors are part of Nomadic Press, a non-profit organization founded by executive director and moderator of this event, J.K. Fowler. The organization, which has locations in Oakland, Ca, and Brooklyn, NY, aims to support community among writers and artists by presenting their works in curated publications and events.
In particular, the organization strives to cultivate a diversity of voices (particularly non-Anglophone voices) and to foster an inclusive environment for all, especially those that may have been shunned from artistic spaces due to their identity.
As members of the Bay Area community, we at UCSF need to support voices such as these, many of which are queer and/or people of color.
Regardless of whether you’re a creator or have personally dealt with issues of mental health, this event is sure to be an amazing opportunity to learn, support local talent, and bring the community together before we set off for Winter Break. And dinner will be provided!
For more information and to RSVP, please follow this link. And spread the word on Facebook!
