Reading by the author from his book, Songs from the Black Chair

Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, and also a senior administrator at The Connection, Inc., one of Connecticut's largest social service agencies, is the author of Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors, about his own experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and how it led him to work in New York City homeless shelters (including the Fort Washington shelter at Columbia) for over a decade. Called "an amazing book" by The Village Voice, Songs from the Black Chair won a Pushcart Prize and is a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award in biography/memoir. Pieces related to the book have appeared in The New York Times, UTNE Reader, Psychotherapy Networker, and on National Public Radio. He is currently completing "Zoloft at the Super Bowl," an exploration of the impact of biological psychiatry on American culture and attitudes, to be published by Random House in early 2008. The author will be reading from his book Songs from the Black Chair and discussing his insights into what works and what doesn't work in engaging homeless people into treatment and housing. Also see www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.