Anderson details her personal history as a rape survivor in her new book, SHOUT. Joining the talk is Meg Wolitzer, author of The Wife and several other New York Times best-selling books.
SHOUT is a poetry tapestry that shares the darkness of my silent years and shows how writing helped me speak up.
— Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about — and advocates for — survivors of sexual assault. In 1999, her groundbreaking, award-winning novel Speak opened the door for a national dialogue about rape culture and consent. Now, 20 years later, she reveals her personal history as a rape survivor in a searing new poetic memoir, SHOUT, at the Fairfield University Downtown bookstore on March 11 at 7 p.m. – the first stop on her nationwide book tour.
Joining Anderson in conversation will be special guest Meg Wolitzer, New York Times best-selling author of numerous novels for adults, including The Interestings, The Ten Year Nap, The Wife and The Female Persuasion.
In SHOUT, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she’s never written about before, including her own experience with sexual assault and her steps to healing.
“I lost my voice for a very long time after I was raped,” says Anderson. “I lost myself, too. SHOUT is a poetry tapestry that shares the darkness of my silent years and shows how writing helped me speak up. It’s a declaration of war against rape culture and a celebration of survival.”
Searing and soul-searching, devastating and triumphant, SHOUT is a love letter to all the people with the courage to acknowledge their personal stories and battles — whether aloud, online, or in their own hearts.
This event is ticketed; for details, please visit www.fairfieldbookstore.com. Discounted rates are available for students with a current ID. This event is for mature audiences only; children under 13 will not be admitted.
Combined, Halse’s books have sold more than 8 million copies. She has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award three times. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists, and Chains was short-listed for the prestigious Carnegie medal. In addition to many awards and accolades, Speak was a finalist for the Printz Honor, and was later adapted into a movie starring Kristen Stewart. It remains revered and controversial, appearing on high school curriculums across the country and on the American Library Association’s most-banned-books list.
