Search results for ""author janna l. goodwin""

Broad target audience, including young and old fans of Mike Birbiglia, David Sedaris, Samantha Irby, Julia Sweeney and Scott Carpenter…anyone who enjoys armchair travel and/or comedic memoir…readers able to recognize, embrace and poke fun at their Inner Alarmist…and perhaps, especially, readers who live along the Front Range or anywhere in the Rocky Mountain West, where Janna lives, and where several of the stories take place. In the midst of cultural transformation, social unrest and a global health crisis: grounded levity, uplifting-yet-thoughtful stories, and a sense of perspective are all appealing if not necessary. While the book is humor, and does not explicitly address current events, Janna’s voice is feminist, socially-aware, cognizant of and sensitive to issues of race, gender and class, and readers should discover currents and undercurrents highly pertinent to our turbulent times. Multiple websites that appeal to a reading public have posted articles, since February, 2020, extolling uplifting books. From bookriot.com and getliterary.com to today.com and goodhouskeeping.com, uplifting and inspirational books have been featured and promoted since COVID-19 started. Fans of Janna’s work may have seen her performance of some of these stories during the brief tour of the solo piece (You Are Reminded That Your Safety Is Your Own ResponsibilityIn terms of “author’s circles” readers: Janna is a professor of Communication at Regis University, with a community of approximately 775 faculty and over 2,300 students; she’s also on faculty in the Mile High MFA writing program. She has taught there for sixteen years and, including former majors and advisees, participates in an alumni network of around 1,600; she can also call up a community from her former graduate program at the University of Massachusetts.

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Rife with misadventures, brushes with death, and moments of existential insight, The End of the World Notwithstanding is a hilarious yet reflective look at the emotional experiences that make everyday life exciting—and the physical ones that remind us we’re lucky to be alive. I’m traveling alone, renting a cabin at a normally tranquil spot—that’s called foreshadowing—on the banks of the Big Laramie River at the edge of the Medicine Bow National Forest. So begins Janna L. Goodwin’s lighthearted collection of nail-biting stories, all true, and all of which fill the listener with wonder … as in, “I wonder how any of us survives?” Encounters with wildfire, insects, house pets, weather, gravity, predators, bullies, and the most potent force of all—fear itself—unfold in remote landscapes of the American West (and Midwest); on the neon-splashed sidewalks of Hollywood; at a Catskills summer camp for actors; in the lavish apartment of a famous senator; in a Hawaiian beach condo; on the side of a mountain above the Mediterranean Sea; and far beneath the streets of Paris. Goodwin looks for and ultimately finds meaning (if not security) in a clear-eyed acknowledgment of our shared, human condition—and in laughter.

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