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Janine Latus is a freelance writer, radio commentator, and regular speaker on
domestic abuse issues. She has busked on the streets of Chicago to write about
what it’s like to sing for your supper. She has galloped the beaches of the
Dominican Republic, eaten her way through Kansas City and danced herself into a
frenzy, all to gather the kind of you-are-there details that make a story sing.
She has coaxed women to tell her how much they weigh and why, and couples to
admit how much they earn, how they spend their money and what they’d like to do
differently. She has cried along with women as they described surviving
mastectomies, and wept with their family members when they did not.
Her work has appeared in O magazine, More, Woman’s Day,
Family Circle, Parents, All You, American Baby
and the in-flight magazines for US Air, American Airlines, Continental and TWA.
She has written for WomensWallStreet.com and MSN Money. Her commentaries have
aired on Public Radio International’s Marketplace, and she routinely speaks at
conferences, workshops and press events on things as far apart as domestic
violence and the joy of selecting the perfect verb. She has taught at the
Missouri School of Journalism and at East Carolina University, and at writing
workshops in Missouri, University of North Carolina and Wisconsin. She is
on the board of directors of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and
lives in Virginia. If I Am Missing or Dead is her first book.
Janine Latus's website
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In the book, Amy's story is interwoven with your own. Why did you choose to
structure the book this way?
I thought of it as a double helix, our lives winding around each other's,
connecting at family gatherings and shared crises and through the tiny threads
of phone calls, letters, and cards. Our lives were so different, yet we each
sought men who would give us that fiction, that shudder of excitement. By
telling both of our stories I wanted to convey the spectrum of emotional and
physical abuse. It's always emotional, understand. The physical is a form of
control through fear, and fear is an emotion. As I point out in the book,
physical abuse is not necessarily worse that emotional abuse. It's just a
different shape.
Toward the end of the book, someone asks you if Amy's death has made you
reconsider your divorce. You respond that it has made you "even more sure.
Life's too short to be afraid." How has Amy's death changed your understanding
of your own experiences?
I don't understand this question well enough to give you a good answer. If
you mean has Amy's death made me even more determined to speak out for abused
women, yes. If you means has Amy's death made me more aware of the...
Kurt Brown is the author of four books of poetry and editor of numerous anthologies. He used to teach at Sarah Lawrence College and lived in New York City. He died in 2013. (more)
If you enjoyed:
If I Am Missing or Dead
Try:
Killer Verse
by Kurt Brown (editor)
Emma Copley Eisenberg is a queer writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her first book, The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia, was named a New York Times Notable Book and was nominated for an Edgar... (more)
If you enjoyed:
If I Am Missing or Dead
Try:
The Third Rainbow Girl
by Emma Copley Eisenberg
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