Porter Square Books: Boston Edition and GrubStreet are delighted to present the latest installment of the Grubbie Debut event series, featuring Betty Morningstar! Join us for a celebration of her new book, I Didn't Know That I Didn't Know You. Jennifer Crystal will join Morningstar in conversation, and the author talk will be followed by a signing line.

This event is co-presented by GrubStreet and Porter Square Books.

ABOUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT I DIDN'T KNOW YOU

A five-year-old announces she's going to be a ballerina when she grows up and isn’t going to get married. At six she describes her image of God as a man made of metal. By nine she attempts to read Freud in her parents’ library. Following her autistic brother’s sudden death when she’s a preteen, she acquires a crippling anxiety disorder. How does she know what she knows, discover an unimaginable family secret, and finally retrieve her voice and understand the meaning of her early inklings?

Rooted in the historical context of the 1950s and 1960s, I Didn't Know That I Didn't Know You: A Late Coming of Age Story is a collection of personal essays that highlight the wisdom of a child as it informs adult lifestyle decisions, family relations, vocational choice, and religious and spiritual affiliation. Personal, professional, and pastoral sensibilities combine to explore questions of individual identity, family dynamics, social change, and ultimately, hope.

Each essay is embedded in a larger context: the women’s and LGBTQ+ movements; developing theories of mental illness; the changing role of religion; and the #MeToo movement. As is true for all of us, the author's narrative is a story within a story.

Betty Morningstar is a clinical social worker who has served as a psychotherapist, educator and associate chaplain. She holds a Ph.D. from Smith College School for Social Work and a M.A. from Andover Newton Theological School. She has taken numerous courses at GrubStreet, including the Writing to Heal Immersive.

Dr. Morningstar's work has been featured in or on The Boston Globe Magazine, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab website at Brandeis University, Columbia University Press and other professional journals. She lives with her wife in Boston and on Cape Cod.

Jennifer Crystal runs the Writing to Heal Immersive Program at Grub Street, where she also has taught many non-fiction courses. She is the author of One Tick Stopped the Clock (Legacy Book Press 2024). Her work has also been featured in many local and national outlets including The Boston Globe, WBUR's Cognoscenti, and Aeon's Psyche. A weekly columnist for a health-related nonprofit, she has shared her story as part of broadcasts, podcasts, and webinars.

Grubbie Debut: Betty Morningstar, author of I Didn't Know That I Didn't Know You, in converation with Jennifer Crystal