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; in 2018 I received the prestigious Whiting Award. 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. I write short stories, one of which was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018. 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. 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.

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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

  • (Photo by @jacquelyntierney) It’s good to laugh. I used to not like the way I looked when I laughed in photographs (eyes too small, face too round, blah blah blah) but I give thanks every time I laugh these days.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #encouragerssociety #liveauthentic #morningslikethese #livefolk #startwithwhy #creativepreneur #calledtobecreative #theartofslowliving #cultivatingenough #thatauthenticfeeling #nothingisordinary #daysofsmallthings
  • Good timing, I think. This graphic, & the below caption, are from @daniellelaporte. The words are from me. & hello & welcome to those of you who found me through the Letters—it’s good to have you. ❤️ ・・・ After a couple days of quiet and reflection, @esmewwang is here with FIERCE love. Her offering for #LettersforRenewal will bolster your resilience against the inner (and outer) critic. Send this reminder to a friend that needs some ease today. 💌 If you’re new here: Letters for Renewal is a 30 day series of loving words + art that support more LIVING and less proving. There’s 10 days left. You can sign up at DANIELLELAPORTE.COM/LETTERS.
  • Still taking requests for commissioned pet portraits—this one is the first non-dog/cat portrait I’ve done! They’re $250 each, & make wonderful gifts. DM me to reserve your spot in the queue.
  • (Photo by @jacquelyntierney) Because C is from & grew up in New Orleans, our kitchen is decorated with NOLA-oriented pieces of art. I had never been to the South prior to meeting him; since then, I’ve been to New Orleans at least once a year. It’s a remarkable place. & I love to go into the kitchen and feel the city’s presence: its art, its food, its people & the feeling of family.⠀ ⠀ #liveauthentic #morningslikethese #livefolk #theartofslowliving #cultivatingenough #thatauthenticfeeling #nothingisordinary #daysofsmallthings
  • The galley for my new book is out in the world. I’ve been refraining from reposting photos, but could not help but sharing this one, because: PIE! And MY NEW BOOK! & you should all be following @gi_aae, anyway. (Photo & below caption by @gi_aae) ・・・ i’ve been trying to stick with packing only one book when i travel, and it’s a rule i stick to when i’m coming back to brooklyn, especially when it’s #BKBF weekend. my one book this time was esmé’s forthcoming THE COLLECTED SCHIZOPHRENIAS — and i’m here at my favorite pie bakery eating my favorite pies — and they have blueberry nectarine!!! one of my favorites! + #esmeweijunwang #thecollectedschizophrenias #graywolfpress #bookstagram #essays #mentalillness #badasswomen #pies #fourandtwentyblackbirds #eatmorepie #brooklyneats #nomnomnom #livetoeat #vsco
  • (Photo taken by me in Ann Arbor, 2009.) I can’t quite believe that I’m going to be a Visiting Writer at the University of Michigan, where I received my MFA—I’ll be there for a few days this month, approximately 10 years after I arrived at the program, and 8 years after I left (and have not been back to Ann Arbor yet since). & I could not have guessed, back then, how the next 10 years of my writing life would look, and that I would be coming back to do all the things I saw visiting writers do there when I was a Wolverine. I’m also excited to be there at the same time as Danielle Lazarin, whom I have yet to meet; I’m excited for it all. ❤️⠀ ⠀ #encouragerssociety #liveauthentic #morningslikethese #livefolk #startwithwhy #creativepreneur #calledtobecreative #theartofslowliving #cultivatingenough #thatauthenticfeeling #nothingisordinary #daysofsmallthings
  • Daphne had a bath today and is in her full floof form. Here you can see the natural curl of her fur, which we suspect is part of her terrier heritage. (And, in the background, @lauramvandenberg’s marvelous new book.)
  • Proofs. I am nervous about how this new book will be received; I am also fiercely proud of it (though this partially depends on my mood). At some point I told Steve, my editor, that my ideal was to write a book that did for schizophrenia what The Noonday Demon did for major depression—in other words, I craved a book that combined the author's own experiences with mental illness, well-rendered and capable of depicting the horror of the thing, with a depiction of the larger story that included research and reportage. From the beginning, I was less interested in writing a memoir than I was in writing something that could touch upon the large span of schizophrenia's history, its relationship to arts and culture, its context within science and medicine, the laws that surround it, and so forth. So I didn't want to write a memoir. And, at the same time, I didn't want to write a comprehensive tome. Around the time of the release of my debut novel, I began to write essays. Most of them were about mental illness. As I wrote more essays about schizophrenia (what I call "the schizophrenias," acknowledging the wide scope of schizophrenia and its related disorders), I realized that I was slowly creating a kaleidoscopic view of what I experienced schizoaffective disorder to be: fractured and complex, with each facet only becoming clearer as I turned my focus upon it. The galleys are making their way into the world. The book will be out in a little less than five months. & I am so, so lucky to be able to do this. Next year should be an interesting one. 🙏🏽 #encouragerssociety #thecollectedschizophrenias
  • (Photo by @jacquelyntierney) These days: more feelings, fewer words. My grandmother’s old prayers (I asked for, & inherited, her Buddhist prayer book). Visualizations, vivid dreams, & nightmares.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ (Wearing: an @elizsuzann dress. #elizabethsuzann)

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