The Shape of the Eye
It’s been a good spring for The Shape of the Eye. Here’s the latest:
Interview, with book giveaway
Blogger Meriah Nichols has posted an interview–one of a two-part series, featuring me and author Amy Julia Becker.
Post a comment for a chance to win a free signed copy of The Shape of the Eye. Giveaway ends this Friday, June 15th.
Father’s Day profile
This coming Sunday, June 17th, check the blog site Literary Mama for a profile, interview, and review of the book.
Reviews
Historian David Wright reviewed Shape at H/Net Disability. Wright’s Mental Disability in Victorian England: The Earlswood Asylum 1847-1901 is the one to read for anyone interested in John Langdon Down, and it was extraordinarily helpful to me. So it made me very happy to find that Dr. Wright liked my book as well:
“There is an unmistakable air of honesty, authenticity, and humility that underpins the author’s writing. For those of us with family members born with Down Syndrome, many of Estreich’s observations have an unerring veracity. And at times, his poetic inclinations lead to passages of haunting beauty. “Her [Laura’s] speech is a landscape before dawn: indistinct shapes, a darkness textured by the eye. It brightens towards an imagined, articulate noon” (p. 226). Stripped of the too-common overcompensating, maudlin accounts that one so often reads of Down Syndrome (and disability in general), this book is a breath of fresh air. It is these personal narratives that can provide a nuanced, genuine, and humanizing portrayal of individuals with Down Syndrome for new parents and the public alike.”
Here’s the link to the full review: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=36236
Oregon Book Award/recent appearances
As many of you know, The Shape of the Eye is this year’s winner of the Oregon Book Award in Creative Nonfiction.
The Book Award is sponsored by Literary Arts of Portland, a nonprofit devoted to the cause of literature and books in the state. Literary Arts sponsors an Oregon Book Award author tour every year, which sends writers across the state to do readings and workshops. I’ve participated in readings in Salem, North Bend, and Klamath Falls, where I read with the wonderful Oregon writers Jennifer Lauck, Geri Doran, Jen Violi, and Heather Vogel Frederick. Photos from those appearances are up on Facebook:
Oregon Book Awards: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150782060227295.421105.71934242294&type=1
Klamath Falls: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150889870602295.425714.71934242294&type=1
Upcoming
In Portland, OR, on July 19th, at 7 p.m., I’ll be appearing with poet Matt Yurdana at Broadway Books, as part of their Comma Reading Series. But we won’t just be reading: we’ll be playing music too.
Matt sings and plays guitar. Luckily for all of you, I just play guitar. If you’re in Portland, come on out–Broadway Books is a great store, and it should be a fun evening.
I’ve got more events in the works–as soon as they’re confirmed, I’ll post them on Facebook and on my website.