Willa Goodfellow in conv with Mary Vermillion – A Gritty Little Tourist Town

Willa Goodfellow will read from her new memoir, A Gritty Little Tourist Town: Bar Tales from Costa Rica, and will be joined in conversation with Mary Vermillion. Described as in conversation with Bill Bryson and an “intimate and humorous memoir surrounding a group of expats as they entertain each other with their stories at a bar in a Costa Rican village,” Gritty Little Tourist Town follows Willa and her wife as they travel to Costa Rica to visit family, “…but what they discover is far more than they expected. In a sleepy fishing village on the Pacific coast, they meet a vibrant, curious group of expats who have come looking for paradise—or at least cheap beer” (willagoodfellow.com). Willa’s first book, Prozac Monologues, emerged from a hypomanic episode that interrupted her first trip to Costa Rica. That book led to a career shift, from priest to mental health journalist. Her journalism attracted the attention of leading psychiatrists who worked on the DSM-5. She blogs, appears on podcasts, and does trainings and presentations. She has spoken to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) chapters, medical students, community groups, professional organizations, camp counselors, and writers. Topics have included the brain science of stress and self care, diagnosis and misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, the process of recovery, suicide prevention, and the intersection of faith, spirituality, and mental illness. Willa now lives in County Kerry, Ireland where she and her wife serve in the Church of Ireland. They hike, travel, and enjoy cooking and eating good food. Mary Vermillion is a Professor of English at Mount Mercy University and the author of three lesbian mystery novels. They are all set in Iowa, and feature the plucky and neurotic radio personality, Mara Gilgannon. Mary’s first novel, Death by Discount, a finalist for two Lambda awards, portrays Walmart’s impact on small-town America. Her second, Murder by Mascot, provides a darkly comic look at homophobia and sexual violence in the world of Division I basketball. Her third, Seminal Murder, features a murder in a sperm bank, and explores the differences between lesbians who want to parent and lesbians who don’t. She and her husband, Benjamin Thiel, live in Iowa City with their cats, Bubbles and Squeaks.