This afternoon, I attended the launch of How To Knit A Human by Anna Jacobson, a memoir about mental illness and recovery, as well as of a remarkable voyage in discovering lost parts of oneself.
Some years ago, Anna suffered a period of psychosis that left her with large gaps in her memory. How To Knit A Human charts her attempts to reclaim some of those memories, or at least understand their loss, and to 'knit' together a sense of personhood through artistic projects such as writing, drawing, and photography.
The book is itself part of the knitting of the self that she performs and reflects upon.
Anna's book formed the creative component of a doctorate in Creative Writing that she undertook with my supervision, and there was added pleasure for me today in seeing one of my students publishing her work to a wide audience. The book was launched at Avid Reader Bookshop in West End, with fellow writer Kris Kneen giving an insightful and warm speech to accompany its way into the world. It was also recently reviewed very favourably by The Guardian newspaper here.
