Reading Groups

Madwomen on the Ward: Memoirs of Institutionalization with Naomi Huffman & Julia Ringo

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5 Sessions Tuesdays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT March 25 to June 17, 2025

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at an additional 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
3/25, 4/22, 5/6, 5/27, 6/17
Online via Zoom

The mental hospital occupies a complex and unsettling space in the American imagination—especially for women. In the late 19th century, women’s memoirs about their experiences in psychiatric wards sparked a movement for mental health patients’ rights; Nellie Bly’s 1887 exposé of the Women’s Lunatic Asylum marked a pivotal moment in investigative journalism and revealed the abuse and dehumanization endured by patients. For many women, psychiatric institutions have been sites of violence, neglect, and control, where they could be committed against their will, subjected to untested therapies and treatments, even lobotomized. Yet, for some, the institution also became a setting where writing could offer a lifeline—whether to break free from nightmarish present circumstances or unresolved trauma. These narratives challenge us to examine the role of the institution and the way we perceive women’s health, and to reconsider the genre of the institutionalization memoir.

In W-3, originally published in 1974, Bette Howland presents a coolly observant account of her hospitalization and recovery in the wake of a suicide attempt. Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation became a defining text of the 1990s, her witty, spiky chronicle of depression stirring both identification and backlash and cementing her as a literary celebrity of her generation. In Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, Yiyun Li reflects on her battle with suicidal depression through a deep engagement with literature, searching for meaning and reasons to live. Terese Marie Mailhot recounts her hospitalization and diagnosis with PTSD and bipolar II disorder in Heart Berries, a searing account of her coming of age as a young indigenous woman confronting personal and generational wounds. And in Committed, Suzanne Scanlon intertwines her own history with psychiatric institutions with a broader exploration of the figure of the madwoman in literature.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read W-3 in its entirety.

What to expect from this reading group: This course is propelled by group discussion; it includes special guests and presentations about each author.

Reading List:

Capacity: 20

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

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Led by

  • huffman-ringo

    Naomi Huffman & Julia Ringo

    Naomi Huffman & Julia Ringo

    Naomi Huffman and Julia Ringo are the co-founders of Hagfish, an editorial studio and small press based in Brooklyn.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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