November 8 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Speaker: Patricia Foster
Drawing from her new memoir, A Marriage in Startled Air, Patricia Foster explores how her husband’s rare cancer diagnosis transformed their marriage and brought his hidden childhood trauma and PTSD to light. As Patricia and David confront the past, they discover a new depth of intimacy. What emerges is something sweeter and deeper—a connection in which the very things that seemed to break them become a source of healing.
Patricia Foster is the author of five books and Professor Emerita in the University of Iowa’s MFA Program in Nonfiction. Her honors include the 2026 Alabama Truman Capote Award, a PEN Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Hall-Waters Prize for Excellence in Southern Writing, the Clarence Cason Award, and a fellowship to Yaddo. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has taught in France, Australia, Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic.