Sammy Nickalls will be reading at Difficult to Name at Greenlight Bookstore PLG on Thursday, March 15
You created #TalkingAboutIt, which encourages conversations around mental health. What has the process been like working on that?
Oh man, it's been all sorts of things. That's not a good way to start one of these responses, is it? I just mean that it's been beautiful in some ways, because I've heard so many stories from so many people and have met truly fantastic, brilliant souls that I otherwise wouldn't have met. And I've been able to work on my mental health with a whole community of people, which is a beautiful effect I didn't consider at first when I started it. But at the same time, I've been working on a big #TalkingAboutIt project that has felt like ripping out all my biggest traumas. It's been a stunning, painful, raw experience and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
It's almost March. What's your favorite thing to do in New York in Spring?
Well, let's get one thing straight: March isn't spring. New York taught me this. March is a mean and cockteasing month that makes you think of chirping birds and sunny days and flowers, but actually, it starts with a massive storm with sideways rain and snow, for example!!!! But anyway. My favorite thing to do in New York in the spring is go to dog parks with friends who have dogs, if we're being real. Also, having a drink at on a bar with a patio at sunset is just the best.
What can people expect from your reading?
I've been told my work is either self-deprecatingly funny or extremely intense (often about mental health), and the two things I'm debating on reading reflect this, so expect to either laugh (or sit in awed silence) at the embarrassing things I do or maybe learn a little about good ol' mental illness. I'll try to keep it lighter, I promise.