Join us for a conversation with Portland writer Andrea Carlisle as she reads from and discusses her new book, There Was an Old Woman: reflections on these strange, surprising, shining years.
She’ll be joined by Judith Barrington.
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Andrea Carlisle is the author of The Riverhouse Stories and A River Runs Under It: Forty Years on a Houseboat in Oregon. Short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Yes, McSweeney’s, Catamaran, J Journal (John Jay College CUNY), So to Speak (George Mason University), Northwest Review, Calyx, The Ledge, Oasis, Texas Observer, Willow Springs, Seattle Weekly, Mountain Living, Funny Times, The Oregonian, Kaleidoscope and various other publications, both regional (Northwest) and national. Her poem, "Emily Dickinson's To-Do List," has appeared in four anthologies, including Visiting Emily: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Emily Dickinson, edited by Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro, published by the University of Iowa Press. Her essay "The Full Bronte” appeared in A Woman's Europe, a collection of essays by women travelers published by Travelers' Tales.
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Judith Barrington’s Lifesaving: A Memoir was the winner of the Lambda Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir. She is also the author of the best-selling Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art. Short memoirs have been published in many literary journals including Creative Nonfiction, Narrative, Prime Number, Catamaran Literary Reader, and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. Other awards include the grand prize in Creative Nonfiction’s Summer, 2016 issue for “The Walk Home.” She has been a faculty member of the University of Alaska, Anchorage’s low-residency MFA Program, and has taught memoir and poetry at many workshops and universities. She has also published six collections of poetry, most recently Long Love: New & Selected Poems (Salmon Poetry, 2018).
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Andrea Carlisle isn’t struggling with her new identity as the Old Woman in the ways society seems to think she should. In fact, she is finding her later years to be an extraordinary and interesting time. In trying to understand the discrepancy, she interrogates the sources of negativity in literature, art, and received wisdom that often lead women to dread this transformative time of life. Given the cultural pervasiveness of ill will toward older women, it is small wonder that growing older is not seen as a natural, even desirable, process. Although some elements of aging are hard to reckon with, there is much to make use of and delight in, along with mysteries, surprises, and revelations.
In these personal essays, Carlisle looks for new ways to bring herself more fully to this time of life, such as daily walks with other women and connecting to the natural world that surrounds her houseboat on an Oregon river at the foot of a forest. She writes about experiences shared with many, if not most, older women: wondering at her body’s transformation, discovering new talents, caregiving, facing loss, tuning in to life patterns and drawing strength through understanding them, letting go (or not) of pieces of the past, and facing other changes large and small.
Those curious about, approaching, or living in old age will find wisdom and insight in her unique perspective. In a voice that rings with clarity, humor, and humility, Carlisle shows us that old age is not another country where we can expect to find the Old Woman grimly waiting, but is instead an expansion of the borders in the country we’re most familiar with: ourselves.
Praise For…
“There Was an Old Woman is neither a memoir nor an angry fist-shaking rejection of the stereotypes, but instead a clear-eyed, moving, personal exploration of what it means to be growing older.” — Molly Gloss, author of The Jump-Off Creek and The Hearts of Horses
"Andrea Carlisle's glorious wry wit and brilliant wisdom have always lit up her readers and listeners so thoroughly that we stand in line waiting for her new book with greatest joy and gusto—as you might stand at an old-fashioned train station trembling to see your long lost loved one coming home at last." —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners and The Tiny Journalist