Brian Trapp
media release: Join author Brian Trapp for a reading/discussion of his debut novel, Range of Motion, about the secret language of siblings and the resilience of families navigating disability. He'll be in conversation with Madison caregiver/activist Kristin Voss, member of the Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance.
Brian's novel is partly based on growing up with his own twin brother, who had cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities.
About the Book: A tender, wrenching, and comic novel that follows two twin boys from infancy to the cusp of adulthood. Twin A and Twin B. That's what Michael and Sal's neuroscientist father irreverently calls them. The boys are born moments apart, but baby Sal's brain scan shows a bleed. He has severe cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities.
Told through multiple perspectives—Gabe, the boys' father; Hannah, their mother; and Michael—this debut novel follows the Mitchell family from the boys' infancy to the cusp of adulthood as they all try to interpret what Sal, who speaks only eight words, is thinking and feeling. The twins' upbringing in suburban Ohio is familiar and unfamiliar, ordinary and extraordinary, as this middle-class family navigates the challenges and rewards of nurturing a special-needs human with a killer dimple who is utterly and winningly himself: sweet, stubborn, mischievous, impenetrable, and above all, very funny.
Transforming perceptions of disability and interdependence through tender attention to detail, Range of Motion is wrenching, beautiful, and sharply comic.
Brian Trapp is director of disability studies at the University of Oregon, where he also teaches fiction and nonfiction and edits the Northwest Review. His work has been published in the Kenyon Review, Southern Review, Longreads, Brevity, and elsewhere. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, with his twin brother, Danny. For more info, visit https://briantrappwriter.com/
Kristin Voss is a retired high school social studies teacher who will always love to study, work with, and support PEOPLE. In retirement, she has founded The Center for Caregiver Serenity, to support, educate, celebrate, and advocate for family caregivers. Kristin was a long distance caregiver to both of her parents who had chronic illnesses, a hired caregiver to a friend who struggles with bipolar disorder, and a deeply committed caregiver to her 25 year old daughter with autism, epilepsy, and an intellectual disability. With her lived experience and professional skills, she was invited to join the Wisconsin Family and Caregiver Support Alliance. In her free time she loves to read, travel, talk with people about their stories, walk in nature, do yoga, and drink Starbucks and wine!
