Book Club

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Personal recognition of mental illness can be frightening for many people, but there are added implications for those in the world of fine arts, where the lines between creative genius, artistic license, and erratic brain health become blurred. Host Dr. Maurice Pickard welcomes Ellen Forney, author of the graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Darkly funny, intensely personal, and visually dynamic, Forney's graphic memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on the artist's work. Her story seeks the answer to the question of whether a correlation exists between creativity and mood disorders, and whether an artist's bipolar disorder should be viewed as a curse or a gift.