WGS @ Work Series Event #1
“Gendered Fictions about Autism: Writing Better Representations of Autism into Fiction”
“As an autistic person, I rarely find myself in fiction”
“In fiction, much like in life, folks socialized as boys are allowed a measure of awkwardness that those of us socialized as girls are not. But awkward girls, women and nonbinary folks exist too.”
-Preface to Little White Flowers
Come join UMaine graduate and local author Amber Hathaway as she discusses her diagnosis of autism in 2022 and how this diagnosis sparked her interest in how autism is defined, recognized, and experienced by people socialized as female. Hathaway, who writes gothic and dark fiction, focuses on representations of autism in fiction. In considering the novels she loved growing up, as well as her own work over the past decade, Hathaway reflects on how rare it is for fiction to feature female characters with autistic characteristics. She also describes her efforts to represent her own experience as an autistic woman in fiction, and in ways that she hopes will resonate with others. The event includes a Q and A with Hathaway on questions such as (but not necessarily limited to):
· Why a gender-studies perspective matters when it comes to understanding and representing
Autism
· How autism is frequently represented in fiction and other media
· The craft of representing characters not commonly represented in fiction
Hathaway’s debut novel, Little White Flowers, is available FOR FREE at the discussion—be sure to secure your free copy by notifying your instructor or Elizabeth.Neiman@maine.edu by WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 10
This WGS at Work event is funded by the Dr. Ann Margaret Johnstone Lecture Series. Dr. Johnstone was the first tenure track faculty member in the computer science program at the University of Maine. Johnstone had a love for creative writing, and the Lecture Fund in Johnstone’s name was established by her friends and family in 1996, and as a gift for computer science (in odd years) and WGS (in even years).