Author Dani Shapiro To Share Personal Experiences When She Speaks At Brunch Event

SOUTHBURY — Dani Shapiro, author of the memoir Slow Motion and several novels including Family History, will speak to the community at a brunch co-sponsored by the Waterbury Chapter of Hadassah and The Federation: Jewish Communities of Greater Waterbury on Sunday, November 20, at 10:30 am, in the social hall of the Walzer Family Jewish Community Campus, 444 Main Street North.

There is a $15 charge for this event which is by prepaid reservation only. Call 203-755-3778 or 203-757-8292 for reservations and address for mailing checks.

Dani Shapiro’s memoir explores just how naughty a good Jewish girl can be. Slow Motion takes place amid the excesses of the 1980s, when Ms Shapiro was a 23-year-old Sarah Lawrence College dropout, living as the mistress of her best friend’s stepfather, Lenny, a high-profile New York City lawyer. While dabbling at an acting and modeling career, she abused alcohol and had cocaine delivered to her door.

Then one weekend, while Ms Shapiro was at an expensive spa in California far removed from the middle-class, orthodox Jewish home in which she was raised, her parents’ car careened into a highway median. The tale then told illustrates how one tragedy can prevent another from happening.

When Ms Shapiro went to her parents’ hospital bedsides, she began the arduous and painful journey to find her own inner strength. She nursed her mother through nearly 1,000 broken bones, survived her father’s death, and reset the course of her life.

Ms Shapiro has taught creative writing at Columbia, New York University and Bennington, and currently teaches in the MFA program at The New School. She lives with her husband and son in Litchfield County.

The author will sign copies of her books, which will be sold the day of her speaking engagement.