Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing

I am lucky to call Jen Soriano a friend and had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing available now from HarperCollins. I'm thrilled to offer 5 hardcovers to you all, my book-loving subscribers. Details below.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Jen's book:

“Grief and pain may be carried in our nerves, but so are chronic joy, laughter, and the wisdom that comes from the somatic impulse to survive.”

“Pain begs for a solution, but solutions are not always the answer.”

“Our bodies have a way of knowing what we can handle and locking away the rest.”

“Once I began to understand my own body as a body connected to others, I began to believe that my pain was not just my own. Once I started to believe my pain was not just my own, I started to believe that the pain was not my fault.”

“We can inherit markers of trauma, but we can also inherit markers of strength.”

About the book

The power of quiet can haunt us over generations, crystallizing in pain that Jen Soriano views as a form of embodied history. In this searing memoir in essays, Soriano, the daughter of a neurosurgeon, journeys to understand the origins of her chronic pain and mental health struggles. By the end, she finds both the source and the delta of what bodies impacted by trauma might need to thrive. In fourteen essays connected by theme and experience, Soriano traverses centuries and continents, weaving together memory and history, sociology and personal stories, neuroscience and public health, into a vivid tapestry of what it takes to transform trauma not just body by body, but through the body politic and ecosystems at large.

Beginning with a shocking timeline juxtaposing Soriano’s medical history with the history of hysteria and witch hunts, Nervous navigates the human body—centering neurodiverse, disabled, and genderqueer bodies of color—within larger systems that have harmed and silenced Filipinos for generations. Soriano’s wide-ranging essays contemplate the Spanish-American War that ushered in United States colonization in the Philippines; the healing power of an inherited legacy of music; a chosen family of activists from the Bay Area to the Philippines; and how the fluidity of our nervous systems can teach us how to shape a trauma-wise future.

With Nervous, Soriano boldly invites us along on a watershed journey toward healing, understanding, and communion.

About the author

Jen Soriano (she/they) is a writer, performer, social movement strategist, and author of the chapbook “Making the Tongue Dry.” She writes from the body about silenced and sidelined stories that long for the space to shine. Jen’s essays have received the Penelope Niven Prize and the Fugue Prose Prize, and she’s been awarded fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Hugo House, and the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. Jen was also a finalist in the 2019 Ploughshares emerging writers contest. Jen currently serves as the writer-in-residence for Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. Originally from a landlocked area of southwest Chicago, she now lives with her husband, son, and seven-month-old water dog on Duwamish territory, Seattle, near the Salish Sea.

Details

1) Any disabled person in the US is eligible for this giveaway. You do not need to disclose any details about your disability.

If you already received a book from one of my previous giveaways, please consider letting other people have a chance.

2) The first 5 people will receive a hardcover. If you do not receive a reply that means the books have been claimed or you did not include all the required information.

3) Send an email to DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com with ‘Jen Soriano Giveaway’ in the title of the message. Do not reply to this post!!

4) Include the following information in your message:

• First and last name
• Mailing address