a three-day celebration of literature and belief in Grand Rapids, Michigan
AMY JULIA’S SESSIONS:
Thursday, April 11 | 3:00 – 3:45pm: Conversation with Hilary Yancey
The stories we tell, for good or ill, about people who have disabilities and those who care for them
Saturday, April 13 | 11:00 – 11:45am: Magnified Humanity: Why Disability in Literature Matters
All good fiction explores questions about what makes us human. How do disabled characters–in literature for both children and adults–help us answer these questions? In what ways do disabled characters disrupt narratives? What does the absence of disabled characters tell us? How does the presence of disabled characters magnify our humanity? How and when is the humanity of characters with disabilities diminished? What are the problems and possibilities with non-disabled authors writing about disability? Amy Julia Becker will consider the disruptive and illuminating presence of characters with disabilities in literature and why this presence matters for anyone wrestling with what it means to be human.
