Ellen Currie at Aging in American
Bronx, New York
May 18 - 22, 1998

Novelist Ellen Currie shares stories with Seniors at Aging in America. Photos Credit: Sherrie Y. Young

Ellen Currie, a 1994 National Book Award Fiction Finalist, visited four "Aging in America" Senior Centers in the northeast Bronx from May 18 to May 22, 1998.

Ellen's warm, inviting manner helped her to connect with the seniors immediately. One participant expressed her surprise and delight in the fact that Ms. Currie is a senior citizen, too -- she expected the author to be "a young, superior, Know-It-All!"

Ellen began each of her visits by reading an attention-getting article from the Los Angeles Times, which discussed writing as a form of therapy and reported that writing has been found to improve illnesses such as arthritis and depression. Ellen persuaded the participants that they all had stories to tell and the ability to write. To get them started, Ellen told anecdotes about her life that could easily be made into written stories. Soon the seniors were eager to tell their own stories.

Ellen's residency at each Aging in America site ended with the promise of other beginnings, as many of the seniors were inspired to write, and to form their own writing & reading circles.