Cartoonist Rachel Lindsay to Talk About Her ‘Rx: A Graphic Memoir’ Wednesday at Library

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How do you choose between sanity and happiness?

On Wednesday afternoon, Cartoonist Rachel Lindsay will visit Darien Library to talk about her book, Rx: A Graphic Memoir. Lindsay has been called a powerful new voice in “graphic medicine,” a literary genre that uses comics to tell personal stories of illness and health.

Rx: A Graphic Memoir publicity image book

In her early 20s, Lindsay was living and working in New York City when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She took a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment.

Cartoonist Memoirist Rachel Lindsay Rx: A Graphic Memoir

Contributed photo

Rachel Lindsay

an announcement from Darien Library

But work took a strange turn when she suddenly found herself on the other side of the curtain, developing ads for an antidepressant drug.

Day after day she sees her own suffering in the ads she helps to create — trapped in an endless cycle of treatment, insurance, and medication.

Overwhelmed by the stress of her professional life and the self-scrutiny it inspires, she begins to destabilize and finds herself hospitalized against her will.

In the ward, stripped of the little control over her life she felt she had, she struggles in the midst of doctors, nurses, patients, and endless rules to find a path out of the hospital and this cycle of treatment.

Cover Rx: A Graphic Memoir by Rachel LindsayFrom 3 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Lindsay will visit the library to discuss the creation of Rx: A Graphic Memoir, as well as the impact of its publication and the public’s reaction to this deeply personal work, which has received acclaim from Kirkus ReviewsPublisher’s Weekly, and New York Magazine, among others. She will sign copies after the event.

This event is made possible through a Community Engagement grant from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) New England Region.

This grant also funded the creation of book club kits focusing on a variety of health and wellness topics. Rx appears in the “Mental Health” kit. These kits will be available for checkout after the event.

About the Author

A Burlington, Vermont-based cartoonist, Lindsay has spoken about Rx at Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, The Miami Book Fair, Mount Sinai Hospital’s Icahn School of Medicine and elsewhere.

Rx was also the featured book for US National Network of Libraries of Medicine’s mental health month 2019, and was included on the American Association of Medical Colleges’ top 10 list of summer reads for “any student interested in pursuing a career in medicine.”

Her work can be found in The New YorkerSpiralbound, and online at RachelLivesHereNow.com.

 

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