From Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2010).

Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay is a twenty-one year old man with what the medical community would describe as “severe” or “low-functioning” autism. He grew up in India and came to America with his mother at the age of 13. He is the author of three books: The Mind Tree, The Gold of the Sunbeams, and How Can I Talk If My Lips Don’t Move? The first of these Tito wrote between the … Read More

From the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (3.2, 2009):

I sat down with celebrated author Stephen Kuusisto in the fall of 2008 in Iowa City, Iowa where he lives. I had read his first book of poems, Only Bread, Only Light, and his two memoirs, the hugely popular Planet of the Blind and the recently released Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening. I had also read his completed new manuscript of poems, Mornings with Borges, forthcoming from … Read More

NLMFF: What inspired you to write this book? What did you hope to accomplish through writing this book?

Savarese: At first, I intended the book as a kind of advocacy on behalf of those who could not represent themselves: namely poor, disabled kids in foster care. But as my adopted son became literate, my plan for the book changed. I knew that I wanted to include his words in the book and even end the project with a chapter … Read More