TPE Book Celebration and Conversation with Steve Kuusisto and Elizabeth Bearden at NYU (In-Person & Online)

Co-sponsored by the Modern and Contemporary Colloquium and the Center for Disability Studies at NYU There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness (Pantheon, 2021) is now out in paperback! To mark the occasion, author M. Leona Godin (NYU) will be joined by Stephen Kuusisto (Syracuse University) and Elisabeth Bearden (University of Wisconsin, Madison) to read from their… Read more

“Revealing and Rewarding Work of Impressive Scholarship” * ‘There Plant Eyes” Review by Author Lazarus Belle

Every author knows how important reviews are, and although we all like to hate on Amazon, it’s a very good place for finding and publishing public reviews. Of course Goodreads is the other biggie. My friend and fellow author published this thoughtful review of There Plant Eyes (now out in paperback) in both places, and to show my appreciation (and… Read more

Blindness and Insight from ‘King Lear’ to ‘Jane Eyre’ – First Day of Class!

For the first time, I’m designing my own course for NYU: “Blindness and Insight from King Lear to Jane Eyre”! Those who’ve read There Plant Eyes may guess some of the subject matter, but I’ll go a little more deep theory in the classroom. This link is to the current course offerings, in the English dept, but you have to… Read more

The TPE Ultraviolet G&T – Includes Recipe!

I’ve been brainstorming my There Plant Eyes Ultraviolet cocktail for over a year. Interviewing  writer and booktail mixologist , Lindsay Merbaum, for Aromatica Poetica plus the paperback release of There Plant Eyes on Aug 30, finally pushed me over the creative edge… The Ultraviolet Inspiration Ordinarily, debut authors don’t have a lot of say in the design process behind their… Read more

Contemplating the Many Things Worse than Being Blind at the Helen Keller Forest Hills Tribute Mural

Thanks to a wonderful writer friend, Jess DeCourcy Hinds, I learned about The Helen Keller Forest Hills Tribute Mural in Queens, New York, where Keller lived for many years. Sadly, Keller’s home no longer exists. In its place stands the Reform Temple of Forest Hills at 71-11 112th Street, which was formerly 93 Seminole Avenue. That’s “where Helen Keller resided… Read more

Footnote on ‘So Lucky’ by Nicola Griffith

I first read So Lucky (2018) by Nicola Griffith not long after it was published. I remembered loving it and laughing out loud several times. Somehow the darkness and creepiness had slipped my mind. Upon rereading it for this Footnote in honor of Disability Pride Month, I experienced all the feels, as the kids say! Griffith is a fantastic writer… Read more