We experience the world through our bodies: pleasure and pain, illness, joy, nourishment, sex, and The Body Politic. Writers TJ Butler (Dating Silky Maxwell, ELJ Editions) and Rebecca Morrison will discuss how they’ve used their own and other women’s physical selves to deepen their writing and create a sensory experience for the reader. Topics may include sex, politics, body image, and fraught mother/daughter relationships. Suzette Romero, an educator with over two decades of experience, will moderate the conversation.
TJ Butler is a writer and photographer who lives part-time on a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay. She writes fiction and essays that are not all fun and games, teaches workshops, and coaches writers. Her work has appeared in outlets such as Huffington Post, Insider, and various literary journals. She has a degree in a field she will never return to, and she was one of those kids who wanted to be a writer when they grew up. She and her husband own a business that supports the arts. Her black-and-white photography mimics her writing’s gritty themes. Dating Silky Maxwell is her first collection. Connect with her at TJButlerAuthor.com.
Suzette Romero is a writer and educator. She’s facilitated workshops for both adults and adolescents regarding the power of language. “Writing the Body” will be Suzette’s first facilitation event with The Potter’s House. When she's not dividing her time between Virginia and New York, you can find her helping the next generation find their writing voice. She is a fan of good food, travel and listening to the signs from the universe. She's working on her first novel. You can connect with her on Instagram @BKtotheVA or email BKtotheVAWriter@gmail.com.
Rebecca Morrison is a lawyer and writer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Today Show, Newsweek, NBC News, HuffPost, Salon, Insider and The Independent. Her HuffPost essay on being an immigrant reached the #1 trending story on AppleNews and was taught in composition classes at Marymount University. She's completing a middle grade novel based on her childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her family, school and new homeland in America. You can find her work and subscribe to her newsletter on www.rebeccakmorrison.com.