Speaking

I’m available to speak about topics related to gender and / or mental health. My professional focus for 15+ years has been the psychiatric / mental health system — and how we may improve upon what we have, for our collective benefit.

In my 8+ years now of commenting publicly on mental health and gender, I’ve spoken and read for crowds big and small, at venues varying from medical schools to churches, from community centers to bars. I’ve shared my words in classrooms and even living rooms on college campuses, as well as to large packed auditoria — even a literal Broadway theater. (I’m a recovering childhood actor and very comfortable on stages and in front of microphones...)

Check out my consulting page for many testimonials from mental health professionals, patients, their family members — and other fan mail I’ve gotten through the years related to my writing and speaking about these topics. Those newer to my work, you may also want to check out this page with Starter Packs I made of my previously published works, by topic.

For paid gigs of $1000+, please contact my speaking agent Leslie Shipman, who handles such on my behalf. All other opportunities, please contact me directly. Either way, you’re encouraged to get to know my work and let us/me know what you have in mind… in terms of my speaking for your organization. I very much appreciate your interest.

If you have zero budget for my speaking fee itself, feel free to inquire nonetheless and tell me more; I will consider your situation. Note, if I’ll need to travel, I’ll at least require reimbursement for such.

Speaking Appearances

Selected.

  • Grand Rounds, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (2019) - invited to lecture on future of mental health care for psychiatrists themselves (and psychiatrists-in-training)

  • Keynote address, University of Iowa’s Examined Life medical humanities conference (2018) - keynote on the future of mental health care

  • My first book’s hardcover and paperback tours (2018 – 2019) consisted of ~35 stops, including the Texas, Miami and Los Angeles Times book festivals/fairs, and events where I read alongside the likes of Alexander Chee, Akwaeke Emezi, and Hanif Abdurraqib. My interlocutors at AKOMP-specific events included: Meredith Talusan (official launch, Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn); Esmé Weijun Wang; Amanda Chicago Lewis (Skylight Books, Los Angeles); Adrian Nicole LeBlanc; Jessica Hopper (Women and Children First, Chicago); Anne Helen Petersen; Kevin Nguyen (Books Are Magic, Brooklyn; AKOMP paperback launch 2019); Rahawa Haile (East Bay Booksellers, Oakland, CA; whole tour’s conclusion).

  • House of Speakeasy (2018), one-off talk on theme of “darkness falls”; I was invited to do speak along with Michael Wolff and other authors.

  • Pop-Up Magazine (spring 2017), “Hearing Voices” a piece I reported on the Hearing Voices Network, which I then performed on stages during a 7-city national tour, including aforementioned literal Broadway theater, soundtracked live by their in-house band (pictured above).

  • My guest appearances for college/university classes include: NYU, The New School, Smith College, Bard College, Brown University, The University of Iowa, Fordham University, and in 2023, USC (the latter music students at the invitation of Prof. Nathaniel Sloane; we discussed my TAL story).

    A few AKOMP tour photos below (figure nowadays I just look and sound more like a man less like I dunno, a boy …):

Above: A packed reading at Powells, Portland OR, just a week after AKOMP published (January 2018); me and Esmé Weijun Wang after our AKOMP event in San Francisco (February, 2018); the store’s owner introducing me at Books & Books, Miami (March, 2018).

Below: Me at House of Speakeasy; me afterwards, signing books. My reading during the Franklin Park Readings Series in Brooklyn, and our stacked lineup afterwards: Alexander Chee, Gregory Pardlo, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Mike Scalise; Mike’s thumbs always make me LOL as does the sign above.);

Below that, me reading during my packed paperback launch at (my beloved) Prairie Lights Books, in Iowa City, IA, early 2019.