Walks on the Margins: A Story of Bipolar Illness - Softcover

2014 GOLDEN QUILL AWARD2014 EVVY BOOK AWARD KINDLE BOOK AWARD SEMIFINALISTIn Walks on the Margins, Kathy Brandt offers a valiant and unapologetic struggle of a mother trying to find a semblance of her son as they are both wrapped in the turmoil of an illness once known as Manic Depression. Bathed in gentle compassion and exuding the most resilient love for her son and family, Kathy’s narrative favors a compelling witness-writing that shows how it feels to be within the circle of those intimately affected by mental illness and in a world beset by institutional failure.Max Maddox’s attentive gaze depicts reality through the lens of the artist he is yet to become, unearthing poetry, rhymes and a broad palette of colors in the most sordid of places. With a callous, ruthless self-scrutiny, he retells both his manic and depressive episodes. At times unnerving, the fierce honesty of his prose is ameliorated by humor and a highly visual writing style reminiscent of the vanguard novellas. Max conveys a playful and unsettling beauty that he scratches off the seemly dim surface of day-to-day life. It’s the whiz kid and his vexed mother. His emotional unrest and her unhindered kindness. Mother and son weave their narratives into a single powerful story about coming to terms with bipolar disorder.

Kathy Brandt has published four novels and taught writing at the University of Colorado. She received the 2012 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Member of the Year Award for her “courage, leadership, and service on behalf of all people living with mental illness.” She was on the Board of Directors of NAMI in Colorado Springs for six years and served as President. She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Rhetoric and lives in the mountains of Colorado. Max Maddox has a BA in philosophy from Grinnell College and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, where he was nominated for the Joan Mitchell Award and received the Fellowship Trust Award. He has exhibited his work at The Slought Foundation, The Print Center of Philadelphia, and the Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial Museum and other galleries. He lives in Denver where he teaches and continues to pursue his career in art.