Authors from each point of the adoption triangleÌý— adoptee, adoptive parent and birth parent — will share their experiences with adoption, motherhood and the community in an open forum Saturday at Francie & Finch bookstore.
"I've never met a human being who doesn't have a connection to adoption or at least a curiosity about how it feels from every angle of the experience," author Suzanne Ohlmann said. "We created the event to be a connective experience for the audience and with the hope to shed some light on a universal topic."
Ohlmann, an adoptee, detailed her journey to trace her history and find her biological family in "Shadow Migration," taking readers through decades of migration and explorationÌý— from India to a haunted house in San Antonio.
"This idea of us coming together as women, as writers, as daughters, as mothers who are all representatives of this triangle, it's charged," Ohlmann said. "Because we have this bond from every angle of it. We are survivors of adoption."
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Ohlmann met fellow author Jody Keisner during Olhmann's April book launch in Seward through a mutual connection. Ohlmann and Keisner share the same publishing company — the University of Nebraska Press — and both published books this year.
"I was just blown away," Keisner said of Ohlmann's book. "Her story was so incredible."
Ohlmann said the two were instantly connected through their adoption experiences.
Later, Keisner gave a guest lecture at theÌýLied Lodge and Conference Center, which Holly Pelesky attended while pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Nebraska. Pelesky reached out to Keisner on social media and the two met up for coffee.
The meeting was several hours long and ended in tears as the pair shared their experiences with adoption and the stigmas that accompany it,ÌýKeisner said.
The two decided to coordinate an event where they could talk openly about the issue and host community discussion. Keisner suggested including Ohlmann to complete their trio.
"Obviously we also have books, but whether or not we did, this is something we needed," Pelesky said. "It feels very lonely, when you're proceeding through the world and it seems like there's no one who can understand, if not your experience, at least your emotions."
Pelesky got pregnant while pursuing her undergraduate degree and connected with an adoption agency. The agency set up counseling appointments to make sure this was what Pelesky wanted before giving her profiles of different couples looking to adopt.
It felt weird, Pelesky said. Like she was working in HR, scanning through candidate's resumes. She rejected all the couples in the first batch the agency sent her, but when she saw a pair of faces staring at her from the second batch, she knew they were the right ones.
“We’re coming at it from different places," Pelesky said. "I’m a mother, Jody is an adoptee and an adoptive mother both, and Suzanne is an adoptee. So we all have a different lens into the same process.â€
When she entered her master's program in 2016, Pelesky picked a mentor that specialized in nonfiction writing and realized she had a story to tell about being a birth mother.
“I started writing and realized I had so much to say," Pelesky said. "Not necessarily about the adoption process, but to my daughter.â€
Her novel "Cleave" is a series of letters written over the years to her daughter, who is currently 17 years old.
In contrast, adoption only takes up two chapters of Keisner's novel "Under My Bed and Other Essays," which explores the fears of women and mothers.
"My adoption plays into that because I have this fear of losing the people I love most, this fear of abandonment essentially,"ÌýKeisner said. "I trace a lot of this fear back to ... being separated from my birth mother and the trauma of that."
Keisner hopes the conversation can change the flippant narrative surrounding adoption. She said she's tired of people talking about adoption as a final option.
"I hear people say, 'Well, she could always adopt,' like adoption is the last round of baby making," Keisner said. "Like if you get real desperate, adoption is something you can fall back on. ... They don't understand how complicated the process is and that it can last a year or two."
Although Keisner has met both Ohlmann and Pelesky, the three have never been in the same room together.
"There is no waving a wand and fixing the trauma inherent to adoption," Ohlmann said. "Storytelling, honesty and humility is a means to repairing the wound. I don't know about healing, but I believe in repairing."
20 of the most anticipated books coming in 2022
‘Seasonal Work: Stories’ by Laura Lippman
Crime fiction writer extraordinaire Laura Lippman’s latest is a collection of short stories and one novella about fierce women (including an appearance by Tess Monaghan) dealing with betrayal, secrets, heartbreak and murder.
William Morrow, out now
‘To Paradise’ by Hanya Yanagihara
If you were a fan of HanyaÌýYanagihara’s bestselling 2015 novel “A Little Life,†you’ll welcome a sprawling novel about family, love and loss, spanning three time periods: 1893, 1993 and 2093.
Doubleday, out now
‘Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom’ by Carl Bernstein
In Carl Bernstein, the investigative journalist and co-author of “All the President’s Men,†writes of his roots in journalism, beginning as a 16-year-old copy boy for the Washington, D.C., Evening Star in 1960.
Macmillan, out now.
‘You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays’ by Zora Neale Hurston
Edited and with an introduction by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Genevieve West, is the first comprehensive collection of pieces by the legendary Harlem Renaissance author.
It collects her essays, criticism and journalism over more than 35 years, showcasing her penetrating, sometimes contrarian insights about race, gender and American culture.
Amistad, Jan. 18.
‘Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris’ by Anne Rice and Christopher Rice
Before Anne Rice died, she and her son, author Christopher Rice, completed a trilogy with in which the pharaoh, made immortal by a magical elixir, awakes in Edwardian England after centuries of sleep.
No word on whether there are more vampire novels in the vault.
Anchor, Feb. 1.
‘Thank You, Mr. Nixon’ by Gish Jen
GishÌýJen is known for her novels, such as “The Resisters,†but her new short story collection, is a delight.
Focused on the experiences of Chinese immigrants who find themselves caught between two cultures, the stories are witty, insightful and beautifully crafted.
Knopf, Feb. 1.
‘The Violin Conspiracy’ by Brendan Slocumb
Brendan Slocumb, a violinist and music teacher, makes his fiction debut with a page-turner of a tale about a Black classical musician whose priceless violin goes missing.
Anchor, Feb. 1.
‘Men in My Situation’ by Per Petterson, translated by Ingvild Burkey
In Arvid Jansen, a character from Per Petterson’s “In the Wake,†must grapple with the deaths of his brothers and parents just as his marriage begins to crumble.
Based on events from Petterson’s own life.
Graywolf Press, Feb. 1.
‘Free Love’ by Tessa Hadley
Set in the 1960s in the midst of the sexual revolution, Tessa Hadley’s latest novel centers on Phyllis, a 40-year-old housewife, who finds herself kissing a young man at a party. And everything comes unraveled.
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls the book “sumptuous and surprising.â€
Harper Collins, Feb. 1.
‘Moon Witch, Spider King’ by Marlon James
The long-awaited second book in Jamaican author Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy is
It takes a different perspective on the tale told in the first book, “Black Leopard, Red Wolf,†continuing an exuberant fantasy epic full of monsters and heroes, woven from African myth and evoking everything from J.R.R. Tolkien and Neil Gaiman to Marvel Comics.
Riverhead Books, Feb. 15.
‘Scoundrel’ by Sarah Weinman
For the true crime buff: Tales of wrongful conviction are sadly commonplace, but Sarah Weinman’s is a rare tale of wrongful exoneration, written by the author of “The Real Lolita.â€
Ecco, Feb. 22.
‘The Paris Apartment’ by Lucy Foley
British author Lucy Foley made bestseller lists with “The Guest List,†and she’s poised to do it again with
Jess, a young woman whose life has gone sideways, goes to stay with her half-brother. His apartment in Paris is just as charming as she’d hoped — but Ben’s not there, and his neighbors aren’t talking.
William Morrow, Feb. 22.
‘Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004-2021’ by Margaret Atwood
In more than 50 pieces in by Margaret Atwood, the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale†and numerous other works examines a variety of topics, ranging from the Trump years to zombies to pandemics to granola.
Doubleday, March 1.
‘Run, Rose, Run’ by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
Those who bow down to all things Dolly Parton, as we should, will want to read her collaboration with James Patterson.
is a romance-mystery set amidst the Nashville music business.
Little, Brown and Co., March 7.
‘The Candy House’ by Jennifer Egan
In 2020, a tech wizard unveils new technology that allows people to download every memory they’ve ever had.
by Jennifer Egan is aÌýspellbinding, cutting-edge novel that is a worthy successor to Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Visit From the Goon Squad.â€
Scribner, April 5.
‘Young Mungo’ by Douglas Stuart
DouglasÌýStuart made a huge splash in 2020 with his heartbreaking debut novel, “Shuggie Bain.â€
He’s back with about two young working-class men in Glasgow falling in love in a homophobic culture.
Grove Press, April 5.
‘Finding Me’ by Viola Davis
Academy Award winner Viola Davis has spoken about having grown up in “abject poverty.â€
Here, in her new memoir she tells the story of her life.
HarperOne, April 26.
‘City on Fire’ by Don Winslow
Postponed from fall 2021 — Winslow said then in a statement that he wanted to wait until it was safer to have a full-capacity book tour — is the first book in a planned trilogy, a crime saga inspired by Homer’s “The Iliad.â€
His recent books include the acclaimed “Cartel†trilogy.
William Morrow, April 26.
‘Tracy Flick Can’t Win’ by Tom Perrotta
Tom Perrotta’s darkly satirical 1998 novel “Election†was made into a memorable movie starring Reese Witherspoon as madly competitive high schooler Tracy.
brings her back in midlife, an assistant principal competing for the principal’s job. What could go wrong?
Scribner, June 7.
‘Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks’ by Patrick Radden Keefe
If you haven’t read “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland†or “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty,†what are you waiting for?
is a collection of Keefe’s New Yorker pieces about criminals and rascals.
Doubleday, June 28.
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