Written by and for trans and non-binary survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, the new anthology Written on the Body offers support, guidance, and hope for those who struggle to find safety at home, in the body, and other impossible-seeming places. This collection of letters written to body parts weaves together powerful narratives of gender, identity, and abuse, caringly collected and tenderly held.
In these letters, contributors are remembering, reinventing, and reclaiming their words, bodies, families, and homes as they create new definitions of what wholeness means. In writing and sharing these stories of ourselves and our bodies, bodies that often experience such severe isolation and disconnection, we begin to build resources for finding experiences in common and healing together.
Join contributors of the book as they share excerpts, answer questions, and lift up trans and non-binary voices, claiming space to be and feel alive in our bodies, alone and together, and to vision a future in which every part of us survives and thrives.
Thursday, October 18th
Franklin Patterson Hall, West Lecture Hall
Hampshire College
5:30pm
This event is co-sponsored by Ethics & the Common Good, Title IX Team, Survivor Supports, Hampshire College Health and Counseling Services, Culture Brain & Development, Gender Resource Network, Creative Writing Program, and Queer Community Alliance Center.
Lexie Bean is a writer and performer based in Queens, NY. This is their third anthology full of letters people have written to their body parts. From writing for Teen Vogue, to documentary-making, to leading two international workshop and performance tours–much of their work revolves around themes of bodies, homes, cyclical violence, and queer foreshadowing. Next moves including writing a children’s book and eating more pizza.
Alex Valdes is an experimental musician, performance artist, and Brooklyn, NY native. Using drag spectacle and power electronics as their alter ego, Reagan Holiday, they continue to explore the dissonance, pain, and beauty of the trans masculine experience.
Nyala Moon is an aspiring actor, writer, and producer. She recently finished her Bachelors of Arts at Baruch College this past May. Nyala has always been a performer at heart but didn’t think it was a space for a black transgender woman like herself. Nyala is a New York native with southern roots. Now that Nyala has finished her education, she is ready to openly pursue her love affair with cinema by telling queer stories because she believes little black trans girls shouldn’t grow up and not see a reflection of themselves in the media.