2012 Writer-in-Residence, Carol Cassella
Award-winning Seattle novelist and physician Carol Cassella is coming to the Olympic Peninsula April 17-19 as Peninsula College’s 12th writer-in-residence.
Cassella graduated from Duke University with a degree in English Literature. After working in publishing for several years, Cassella decided to pursue her fascination with the ways humans behave and misbehave by studying medicine. She initially intended to become a psychiatrist, but when she found she couldn’t separate the body and the soul, she veered into internal medicine and then, six years later, into anesthesiology. She is board certified in both medical specialties.
Her first novel, Oxygen, is the story of an anesthesiologist tangled in the aftermath of an operating room catastrophe and has become a national bestseller. Published in 2008, Oxygen was chosen as an Indie Best Pick for July of that year and was also selected as one of the best first novels of the year by The Library Journal. It was released as a trade paperback in June 2009.
Casella’s second novel, Healer, takes a hard look at a faulty health-care system. Published in 2010, it also became an Indie Best Pick, selected for September of the same year.
Prior to writing fiction, Cassella wrote about global public health issues in the developing world for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Olympic Peninsula residents will have several opportunities to meet this dynamic author and hear her speak and read from her writings during her three-day residency at Peninsula College. Events that are open to the public include:
- Tuesday, April 17, 7:00-8:00 pm: Lecture, “The Neuroscience of Creativity: Where Does the Muse Reside.” Maier Performance Hall, Peninsula College, Port Angeles.
- Wednesday, April 18, 12:35-1:25 pm: Foothills Writers Series featuring Cassella reading from Oxygen. Maier Performance Hall, Peninsula College, Port Angeles.
- Wednesday, April 18, 6:00-7:00 pm: Port Townsend Forum for Students and Community, Port Townsend Extension Site, Fort Worden, 228 Battery Way, Room D.
- Thursday, April 19, 12:35-1:25 pm: Studium Generale Writer in Residence Keynote Address: “Intimate with Strangers: Writing as an Act of Personal Revelation and Spiritual Self-Discovery.” Peninsula College Little Theater, Port Angeles
Cassella now lives on Bainbridge Island with her husband Steve and their two sets of twins and is currently working on her next novel.
The Writer-in-Residence program is sponsored by the Peninsula College Foundation.