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Transplant A Memoir by Dine Watson

Author Talk in recognition of Women's History Month

This Women's History Month the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is hosting an author talk with Bernardine Watson, who will be discussing her book, "Transplant: A Memoir".

This powerful story offers insight into her journey with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare, incurable, kidney disease that primarily affects Black people. Don't miss this opportunity to engage in important conversations about health, self-advocacy, and the experiences of Black women. Learn more about the book and the author below and register to let us know you are coming.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This program is brought to you by the DC Public Library Foundation and the Anacostia Community Museum. Free copies of Transplant: A Memoir to attendees in need courtesy of the DC Public Library Foundation.

TRANSPLANT: A MEMOIR

Transplant: A Memoir is the story of my almost 40-year roller coaster ride with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare, incurable, kidney disease that primarily affects Black people and often leads to kidney failure. The book recounts how I, a tough “South Philly girl” from a poor, but striving, Black, family, handled my disease including the rage and disappointment I experienced when my initial kidney transplant failed, five eye-opening years of dialysis, the hope and health I found with a second transplant from an "altruistic" donor, and marriage to a loving, supportive man.

The memoir ends shortly after my second transplant in 2009. In an epilogue, I discuss the devastating impact FSGS, and kidney disease generally, continues to have on the Black community, current efforts to develop innovative approaches for treating the disease, living well with a transplant and while on immunosuppression medication, the importance of self-advocacy and self-care especially for Black women, and how my life, family relationships, and health continue to unfold.

Meet the Author

Bernardine (Dine) Watson is a nonfiction writer and poet who lives in Washington. She has written on social policy issues for many major foundations, nonprofit organizations and for the Washington Post Health and Science section and She the People blog. Her poetry has been published in many journals and anthologies, including Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Bourgeon/Mid Atlantic Review, and Gargoyle Magazine. In 2023, two of her poems, Hey 19 and The Scalding were nominated for the Pushcart Prize Dine is a member of the 2015 class of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Poet in Progress Program and the 2017 and 2018 classes of the Hurston Wright Foundation’s Summer Writers’ Workshop for Poetry. Her memoir: Transplant won the 2023 Washington Writers’ Publishing House prize for nonfiction. Transplant also appears on National Public Radio’s 2023 list of Books We Love. Dine was selected by Poets and Writers as one of their “5 over 50” debut authors for 2023 and will be featured in the magazine’s upcoming November/December issue.

  
Meet the Conversation Partner
  

Natasha Dupee was appointed Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office on Women’s Policy and Initiatives in April 2023. A fifth-generation native Washingtonian, she is committed to creating and defending policies that increase access to a quality life. In 2022, Director Dupee joined MOWPI as Associate Director, overseeing the office’s policy, economic empowerment, and stakeholder engagement portfolio. She has led the 5th and 6th annual National Maternal and Infant Health Summits as well as the #BeTheMovement Women’s Policy Bootcamp on the topics of leadership, advocacy, and civic engagement. Director Dupee’s focus on shifting economic power manifested in hosting the first #ObviouslyDC Ladies Night and InnovateHERs convening to increase women entrepreneurs’ access to capital. Additional signature programming includes the Washington Women of Excellence Awards, Women's Equality Day, WorkSmart Wage Negotiation Workshops and Financially Fit DC Women. She also serves as Chair of a DC Advisory Neighborhood Commission within Ward 7. A Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholar, Director Dupee is a double alumna of the George Washington University with a bachelor’s in women’s studies and a master’s in public health policy. She additionally holds a master’s in secondary education from the University of Missouri-St Louis.

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