Join us for the launch of THE SNAG by Tessa McWatt! In conversation with Allisa Trotz.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In her memoir The Snag , the acclaimed, award-winning author of Shame on Me , Tessa McWatt, takes on personal and collective grief, and the solace and inspiration to be found in connecting with nature—and each other. Every day, we hear about and experience griefs, large and small, in our families, friendships, communities, and worldwide. The grief of a loved one passing. The grief of a way of life ceasing to exist. The grief of global pandemic, war, climate collapse. As her mother’s dementia advances and she can no longer live independently, Tessa McWatt confronts personal and political losses, and finds herself wandering in a forest asking, how do we grieve? And what can we learn from nature and those whose communities are rooted in nature about not only how to grieve but also how to live? From the newest seedling to the oldest snag in the forest, there is meaning to be found in every stage of a tree’s life, all of which contribute to a thriving forest community. In this forest thinking, Tessa begins to find answers to her questions about how to live (for each other), how to grieve (radically), and how to die (with love and connection). The Snag is an essential book about living and dancing and singing and praying, even in the face of unimaginable sadness, and in this way, growing together and supporting one another, like the trees in the forest.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TESSA McWATT is the author of seven novels and two books for young people. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards, the OCM Bocas Prize and the Society of Authors’ Volcano Prize. She is one of the winners of the Eccles British Library Award 2018, for her memoir, Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging , which won the Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction 2020 and was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize and the Governor General's Award. She has been a resident at the Sacatar Institute in Brazil and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. Professor of creative writing at the University of East Anglia, she is also a librettist, and works on interdisciplinary projects and community-based life writing. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Guyana, she grew up in Canada, and now makes her home in London, England.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Alissa Trotz is a Professor of Caribbean Studies at New College and the Director of Women and Gender Studies. She is also affiliate faculty at the Dame Nita Barrow Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados; and a member of the O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination, and Global Health . She is a resource person with Red Thread Women’s Organization in Guyana (also see Red Thread’s Youtube Channel ) and editor of “ In the Diaspora ,” a weekly newspaper column in the Guyanese daily, Stabroek News .
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