Award-winning writer. Friend of ambitious people living with limitations.

My name is Esmé (pronounced EZ-may). I’m a writer. My debut novel, The Border of Paradise, has received accolades and kind words from places such as LitHub, NPR Books, and the Chicago Review of Books; I was selected by Granta for their once-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists list of 21 authors under 40. I write essays that have been published in the Believer, Catapult, The New Inquiry, Lenny, Hazlitt, and Salon, and am working on a collection of essays about schizophrenia for Graywolf Press, which is the result of having won the 2016 Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. And I create work here that I hope will help you on your creative journey, including a workbook-and-audio program about creating from one’s obsessions and themes (find that in the Shop).

This website is the place to be if you want to know more about my literary life—links to pieces I’ve published, information about my novel and forthcoming essay collection, dates for forthcoming literary events, press clips, and so forth. Dig in.

But… you can also find me at The Unexpected Shape, where I provide resources for ambitious people living with limitations to build resilience, excellence, and legacy. Tools designed to help writers and other creatives include Where’s the Electricity?, an acclaimed program about creating from obsessions and themes. I offer a free series of emails called Encouragement Notes, as well as entry into a supportive, thriving Facebook group made up of fascinating and resilient people of all sorts. A popular workshop has become a short, sweet, and effective email course, A**-Kicking with Limitations. My signature online course, Rawness of Remembering, is a much-loved program that teaches the skills needed for restorative journaling through difficult times.

Hop on over to The Unexpected Shape, or stay a while here. Do both! Either way: welcome.

 

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P.S. To find links to articles about me and podcasts I’ve been on, as well as media-ready photographs and contact information, please visit the Press page.

I’d love to stay in touch with you.

For from-the-heart letters about life, resilience, and creativity, sign up for With Love & Squalor. Each letter also contains links to excellent writing from around the web, a collection of Five [Extraordinary] Words, and occasional discounts and previews of upcoming works and creations. Signing up will also nab you the Productivity Journaling with Limitations e-book, a nifty tool to help you dive into analogue planning while living with limitations.

Instagram

  • Doctors’ appointments never end, not even on the weekends! Here I am in the waiting room while @pchza is in the other room, getting physical therapy—I’m terribly grateful for this dress from @millayshop (on hiatus), which is my go-to thing to throw on right now. Happy Saturday, y’all.
  • Today was, @pchza & I agreed, the Friday that felt like a million days. I found this old photo of me from late 2013. I was devastatingly sick with what we would later find out was late-stage, CDC-quantifiable Lyme, wracked with psychosis from schizoaffective disorder, & barely holding on. I find it odd that I would, to most, “look good” in this photo when I was so sick. I was so hopeless. My marriage was suffering immensely because of my illnesses. I had lost a lot of weight. & the thing about illness & disability is that you don’t necessarily know when it will come to call. Okay. Time to go have dinner. (There by the grace of God go any of us.)
  • Schizophrenia is widely known as a terrible, terrifying thing. My wish for this book is that those who read it will find more nuance than that within its shadows. Here’s the cover for The Collected Schizophrenias, out Feb 2019 from @graywolfpress.
  • (Photo from January 2018) As many of you know, @pchza is one of my dearest friends, has been dealing with a severe Lyme flare—exacerbated by mold and lead exposure—for the last many months, and has been staying with Chris and me for the last few weeks while she gets medical treatment. She is, we hope, on the road to getting better, but has been very, very ill, is racking up enormous medical bills, and has not been able to work. Janice Lee (@diddioz) & I have set up a fundraiser—please, if you are able, visit http://bit.ly/porochista and donate, or share on your own networks if you aren’t able to donate yourself. This is a medical & life emergency (more details at the link), & Porochista, who has given so much to so many, needs help. #lymedisease #lymediseaseawareness #lymefighter
  • Lyme lessons: no matter how ill, the show goes on. @pchza told me a while ago that she’d be doing a photo shoot for a magazine cover & also needed a haircut, which is exhausting enough *without* being super sick. But she borrowed one of my dresses (seen here), got a cut with my favorite stylist & entered the world with her oxygen concentrator & emergency magnesium mix in tow. When she got back, I insisted on taking some pictures, & it’s amazing what you don’t see—anyway, shuffled in with the IVs and doctors’ appointments and excruciating pain and panic attacks are moments when we can look damn good in spite of it all.
  • Two beloved pals. Only one of them (@pchza!) is having a work day with me. ❤️🐶🐾
  • Hanging out & gossiping with @pchza in the IV room, P was like... “omg you look so cute” & I didn’t believe her (this outfit is entirely pajamas). BUT SHE TOOK THIS PHOTO, & I *AM* CUTE!
  • Hanging out in the clinic’s IV room a lot this week with @pchza. And then a break for the weekend, & then I’ll join her for at least one drip next week. 💪🏽
  • RESTAURANT. COCKTAILS. WRITERS. Featuring, L-R: @andimudd, @caillemillner, me, @anissegross, @rrrrrrrachelkhong, @ro.kwon

follow me @esmewwang

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