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Book Talk: “Slow Motion: A Memoir of Friendship, Advocacy, and Disability” with Jennifer Dupree | RSVP now!
Tuesday, June 9 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Camden Public Library welcomes award-winning author Jennifer Dupree to share about her recent book, Slow Motion: A Memoir of Friendship, Advocacy, and Disability, on Tuesday, June 9 at 6:30 PM in the Picker Room.
Please RSVP below to save your seat!
“I’ve never read a friendship story like this one. Jennifer Dupree writes with mordant humor, grand affection, and righteous rage in nearly equal amounts, giving us a vivid picture of what it means to both friends—the sanguine, wry, severely disabled Marcel and the emotionally messy, able-bodied Jen—to be accepted for exactly who they are. I felt not so much inspired by this story as welcomed into it.” –Monica Wood, author of How to Read a Book and When We Were the Kennedys
At twenty-one, Jen Dupree is working as an Activity Director in a nursing home when she meets Marcel—a man twenty-five years her senior who has cerebral palsy. Despite the physical limitations of his disability, Jen sees in Marcel a magnificent spark: endless curiosity, infectious humor, and an unshakeable propensity for joy.
Slow Motion is both a heartfelt tribute to an extraordinary friendship and an awakening to disability rights and advocacy. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, these stories reveal how Marcel has navigated prejudice, medical dismissal, and an ableist culture with grace and determination—and how Jen learned to see the world through entirely new eyes.
This is a story about showing up, speaking out, and the transformative power of chosen family. With deadpan humor and unflinching honesty, Dupree offers readers a portrait of friendship that transcends difference and celebrates our shared humanity.
Jennifer Dupree is the author of two novels, The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach (2022) and What Do You Want from Me? (2025). She is an assistant editor for The Masters Review, a library director, and a former bookstore owner. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from USM’s Stonecoast program. Her work has appeared in December, Solstice, The Masters Review, On the Rusk and other notable places. She is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Fiction Contest for 2017, and a two-time winner of a Maine Literary Award (2006, 2022). She lives in Maine with her husband and Portuguese Water Dog (Pink) Floyd.