🎧 Interview: Tanya Frank, author of 'Zig-Zag Boy'
This post is part of the accompanying tips, resources, interviews with experts, and stories of recovery included in the exclusive serialization of Cured: The Memoir.
🎧 Listen to the interview:
Today, I have for you Tanya Frank. She writes on the intersection of motherhood, disability and immigration using memoir and personal essay as a tool to aid self expression and recovery and to fight the deep rooted prejudice our society holds against psychosis.
After publishing her 2017 The New York Times essay, “Unmoored by a Psychotic Break,” about her son Zach and his struggles with psychosis, she realized she had a book in her—and it is an amazing book.
Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood is immersive. Zig-Zag Boy is the story of her son, Zach, who displayed psychotic symptoms in his late teens and how she has lived with that and tried to understand and care for him as so many families are called upon to do. This memoir shows readers how difficult it is on the families, who, I always say, have it the hardest.
I finished it yesterday and just loved it. Her writing is stunning. The story is totally absorbing. Read it now.
Please enjoy my interview with the wonderful Tanya Frank.
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Visit the Table of Contents and Introduction of Cured:
Find more resources for mental health recovery.
Read the prequel to ‘Cured,’ ‘Pathological’ (HarperCollins):
Interesting talk. I am one of those people who’ve had to deal with generations of complex mental health issues in my family. Something unique about my own memoir is that I include the voice of the family member who was identified with a severe psychiatric disorder and psychosis. My brother had written his own biography after decades of horrible symptoms, and I include sections of it. I felt it was important that his voice be heard.
Thanks for introducing me to this terrific author!