Kenny Fries, an author and disability rights activist who mainly writes on his experiences as a disabled, gay, Jewish man, visited Tufts yesterday to read from and talk about his recent memoir, “In the Province of the Gods” (2017), as well as preview his forthcoming book, “Stumbling Over History: Disability and the Holocaust.”
The event was organized by Health and Wellness Services and Student Accessibility Services as part of Disability Awareness Month. Michelle Bowdler, executive director of Health and Wellness Services, opened the evening by introducing Fries and speaking about his illustrious career as a writer. Fries has published memoirs, poems and essays and teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College. He’s the recipient of numerous awards and grants and has been a Fulbright scholar twice.
“We were undergrads at Brandeis [University] together, and I swear I remember him saying to me ‘I think I want to be a writer,’” Bowdler said.
Fries began by reading from his first memoir, “Body, Remember” (1997).
“Those afternoons I did not take the bus, and chose to walk home from high school, I would find this boy, maybe 10 or 11 years old, sitting on the stoop of the semi-detached house where I imagine he lived. Every time I passed this boy asked, ‘Why your legs the way they are?’ And I would answer, ‘I was born that way,’ never stopping or slowing down,” he read.
This memoir was Fries’ first foray into writing about his intersecting identities.
“I was born missing bones in both my legs. I need specially designed orthopedic shoes, as well as a cane, to get around,” Fries said.
Fries then read the prologue and part of the first chapter of “In the Province of the Gods.” Fries’ memoir tells his story of being a disabled foreigner in Japan. He moved to Japan with no specific interest in the country or the culture, but in retrospect, he says it affected the course of his life.
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