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How to pronounce Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz: APT-oh-witz. "Cristin" same as usual for other variations on the name.
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz (b. 1978) was born and raised in Philadelphia. In 1996, she graduated from Central High School of Philadelphia, and moved to New York City to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Aptowicz is the author of six books of poetry (including Dear Future Boyfriend, Hot Teen Slut, Working Class Represent, Oh, Terrible Youth and Everything is Everything) as well as the nonfiction book, Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, which Billy Collins wrote "leaves no doubt that the slam poetry scene has achieved legitimacy and taken its rightful place on the map of contemporary literature." On the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) podcast Art Works, host Josephine Reed introduced Cristin as being "something of a legend in NYC's slam poetry scene. She is lively, thoughtful, and approachable looking to engage the audience with her work and deeply committed to the community that art (in general) and slam poetry (in particular) can create."
Cristin's most recent awards include the ArtsEdge Writer-In-Residency at the University of Pennsylvania (2010-2011), a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry (2011) and the Amy Clampitt Residency (2013). Her sixth book of poetry, The Year of No Mistakes, was followed by her second nonfiction book, Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine.
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz's website
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How did you first learn about Thomas Mütter, and what inspired you to write about him?
Growing up in Philadelphia, the Mütter Museum was a part of my childhood, but it wasn't until after I moved to New York City for college and was frequently asked about by curious non-Philadelphians that I realized while I knew about the museum's strange collection of unusual medical specimens, I didn't know much about how it came to be. I didn't know if Mütter was the name of a man, or family, or even an acronym. When I decided to research this story in the hopes of securing an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship to help offset the costs of my college education, I was shocked and thrilled to uncover this incredible story which had largely been untold. Almost fifteen years after I first walked into the Mütter Museum archive to do my earliest research on Mütter, I am so excited to finally be sharing Mütter's life and work in this book.
Some of the material you share is shocking and could be unsettling for someone with a weak stomach. Did you ever feel like Mütter's story was too difficult to tell?
The Mütter Museum is the most popular science museum in American for people between the ages...
Benedict Carey is an award-winning science reporter who has been at The New York Times since 2004, and one of the newspaper's most emailed reporters. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor's ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Dr. Mütter's Marvels
Try:
How We Learn
by Benedict Carey
Annie Cheney's magazine work has appeared in Harper's and My Generation. Her Harper's article, "The Resurrection Men", that is the basis of The Body Brokers was awarded the 2005 Deadline Club ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Dr. Mütter's Marvels
Try:
Body Brokers
by Annie Cheney
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