Berkeley Arts & Letters presents Porochista Khakpour / Sick: A Memoir / with Achy Obejas

June 26, 2018, 7:30pm
Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley
Tickets available now!

For as long as writer Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. For most of that time, she didn’t know why.  All of her trips to the ER and her daily pain and lethargy only ever resulted in one question: How could any one person be this sick? Several drug addictions, three major hospitalizations, and over $100,000 later, she finally had a diagnosis: late-stage Lyme disease. In the tradition of Brain on Fire and Darkness Visible, an honest, beautifully rendered memoir of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction, and the myth of full recovery. SICK is a candid, illuminating narrative of hope and uncertainty, boldly examining the deep impact of illness on one woman’s life.

 Porochista Khakpour’s debut novel Sons and Other Flammable Objects was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, one of the Chicago Tribune’s Fall’s Best, and the 2007 California Book Award winner in the “First Fiction” category. Her second novel The Last Illusion was a 2014 “Best Book of the Year” according to NPR, Kirkus, Buzzfeed, Popmatters, Electric Literature, and many more.  Among her many fellowships is a National Endowment for the Arts award. Her nonfiction has appeared in many sections of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Elle, Slate, Salon, and Bookforum, among many others. Currently, she is guest faculty at VCFA and Stonecoast’s MFA programs as well as Contributing Editor at The Evergreen Review. Born in Tehran and raised in the Los Angeles area, she lives in New York City’s Harlem. Her author photo was taken by Sylvie Roskoff.

Please note:

Conversation to be followed by a Q&A and signing.

This event is all ages. Accessibility is important to us! If you have special needs of any kind, please write events AT booksmith DOT com and we will do our best to accommodate you. If the cost of admission would be a financial hardship that might prevent you from attending, please let us know.