Interviews and Events
Memoir Interviews
ROSE CITY READER INTERVIEW
When Gail Hovey was a teenager, she was emotionally and physically seduced by Georgia, the education director at her church. It took her decades, including a move to South Africa, to break free of Georgia’s influence. In her new memoir, She Said God Blessed Us, Hovey tells her story with compassion and insight. It is a memoir worth reading for anyone whose family has been touched by abuse or who wants to understand dynamics and effects of abuse.
QUEER SPIRIT / OUT CAST RADIO INTERVIEW
Gail Hovey was interviewed on February 22 at 1:00 pm on WMPG radio, Portland, ME. Hosted by Marvin Ellison and Tamara Torres McGovern, Queer Spirit features conversations exploring queer life and the power of the Sacred.
As introduction, Ellison said, “We could easily have an extended conversation with Gail about the Pan-African justice movements and her activism as a white ally in southern Africa and back in the U.S., but today we’re talking about her more recent publication, a memoir entitled She Said God Blessed Us: A Life Marked by Childhood Sexual Abuse in the Church. One reviewer describes the memoir, this way: ‘This book is a gift. . . written with compassion, righteous anger, and deep insight about the turmoil that abuse generates and about the courage and tenacity required to disarm a debilitating curse and claim an authentic blessing.’”
ENLIGHTEN UPLIFT & INSPIRE PODCAST
On December 14, 2020, Dr. Deborah Adamy interviewed Gail Hovey about her memoir, She Said God Blessed Us: A Life Marked by Childhood Sexual Abuse in the Church. Introducing the podcast, Deborah said, “Gail understands the importance of truth telling not just through her personal memoir, but what a crucial time it is in our country, in the world, for us to be telling the truth…taking responsibility for the truth, individually and collectively. Gail’s story poignantly embodies the more accurate, complicated, nuanced layers of life, of trauma, of sexuality, of love. She breaks through the false narratives of dichotomous thinking, demonstrating that our experiences are not one-dimensional: either/or; gay/straight; male/female; right/wrong. Gail’s life provides a rich history, from the 1950s, of the perceptions around religion, sexuality, feminism, activism, race, culture, and the healing power of therapy and writing.”
Book Q&A with Deborah Kalb
Gail Hovey is the author of the new memoir She Said God Blessed Us: A Life Marked by Childhood Sexual Abuse in the Church. She lives in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley.
Memoir Events
Stonecoast MFA Alumni Reading
On December 9, 2020, six alumni authors who published a book in 2020 read from their new works. The writers are:
- Brenda Cooper
- Terri Glass
- Gail Hovey
- Ellen Meeropol
- Colin W. Sargent
- Joanna Solfrian
Gail Hovey received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast program of the University of Southern Maine. Because 2020 has been such a difficult year to launch a book, she was especially grateful for this opportunity to read. Please enjoy the full reading. Gail Hovey’s introduction beings at minute 25:19.