Woodstock Writers Festival Tackles Topic Of Addiction and Recovery

The seventh annual Woodstock Writers Festival takes place from April 7 to 10 in Woodstock. This year the festival will feature a dialogue devoted to the topic of drug addiction and recovery.

Martha Frankel will moderate the recovery panel "Writing With Hope In Your Pain." Frankel is the author of the memoir "Hats and Eyeglasses," which describes her family’s love of gambling and the host of the talk show Woodstock Writers Radio. She is the festival's executive director.

Panelists include Tracey Helton, Kevin Sessums and Jamie Brickhouse.

Helton is the author of "The Big Fix" (Seal Press, March 2016). Helton will talk about her transition from homeless heroin addict to being a mom of three and an author. Kevin Sessums was a writer for Vanity Fair and Interview but he wound up homeless after becoming addicted to meth. He’s the author of "I Left It on the Mountain" (St. Martin’s Press, 2015). His work has appeared in Marie Claire, Elle and Playboy.

Jamie Brickhouse will talk about his near fatal descent into alcoholism, which he wrote about in "Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir of Booze, Sex, and My Mother" (St. Martin’s Press, 2015). Brickhouse has worked in the publishing industry for over two decades.

The dialogue will take place from 8 to 10 p.m. on April 8 at the new Woodstock Music Lab, 1700 Sawkill Road, Kingston. For more information, visit http://www.woodstockwriters.com/woodstock-writers-festival-2016-schedule/

PHOTO: Woodstock Writers Festival logo/Woodstock Writers Festival

PHOTO: Martha Frankel/Francis Vogt