Join me in this live, two-hour conversation with Matthew Zapruder and discover the Five Things I’ve Learned about how to harness our emotions into the full force of our creative work — and how to put all that we’re feeling about the state of the world to good use.

Hi, my name is Amber Tamblyn. I’m a poet first and foremost, but I’m also an actress, director, and author across multiple genres. In addition to my work in television and film, I am the author of seven books, including the poetry and art book exploring the lives and deaths of child star actresses, Dark Sparkler, and the bestselling novel, Any Man. My poem, “This Living” was published in The New Yorker this past June. I live in Brooklyn, New York, with my husband, comedian David Cross, and my daughter, Marlow. 

I grew up in Southern California in a very bohemian household with actor/artists for parents who surrounded me with poets and artists from a very young age—people like Ed Ruscha, Diane di Prima, Amiri Baraka, Wanda Coleman, and Jack Hirschman to name a few. I started acting at a young age when I was cast on the daytime soap opera General Hospital, which is also when I started to fall in love with writing poetry. Shortly after starting my acting career, Jack and Wanda became writing mentors of mine, and I began to write about and explore the subjects of women’s objectification in the entertainment business, gender inequality, and women’s rage—much of which I was experiencing and seeing firsthand. Jack published my first poem, “Kill Me So Much,” in a poetry section he edited for The San Francisco Chronicle. The poem was about the ways in which the entertainment business harms women, and in turn, women then harm themselves in order to serve the business. Seeing my poem published in a print changed my life and informed so much of the writer and woman I am today. 

My unique experiences at the intersection of acting and writing poetry allowed me to radically explore many different outlets and ways to tell a story. After my first few poetry books were published, I published a novel, Any Man, which is now in its seventh printing. I later directed and co-wrote my first feature film, Paint It Black, based on the cult classic novel of the same name written by Janet Fitch. In 2017, I wrote an op-ed for The New York Times that was one of the most read of that year titled, “I’m Done with Not Being Believed.” The piece was a precursor to the reporting done by Jodi Kantor that set off 2017’s #MeToo movement (which was originally founded by Tarana Burke in 2006).

During this heightened political time, I co-founded Time’s Up, and worked with women across industries to change legal and legislative policy and cultural narratives about the underrepresentation of women in the workforce. I’ve continued to write for the New York Times on issues pertaining to women’s inequality, most recently contributing the widely read opinion piece about the movie The Substance titled, “This Hollywood Horror Film Hit Close to Home,” which looks at disposability culture in the United States.

If Jack Hirschman and Wanda Coleman taught me anything, it’s the discipline to make sure your anger is in service of your art. That your anguish—whether over the injustice in the world, personal loss, or grief—has a useful place to go. I hope to talk with you about how to harness ALL that we are feeling (and yes, that capitalization is on purpose because there is SO MUCH) and how put it to good use by honing in on an idea for a striking piece of writing or learning how to convey an emotion as a storyteller in a potent and original way. As poet Jeffrey McDaniel once said about being a writer and artist, “You have to imagine your ass off,” and I’m here to help you get there. 

I’d love for you to join me for Five Things I’ve Learned about Creativity – and Harnessing Emotion in the Service of Powerful Art, my upcoming two-hour session with my friend, Matthew Zapruder! I’m happy to talk about any and all forms of artistic practice, from acting, to writing books, to directing and writing films. We need your voices in this world, now more than ever.

I hope you’ll join us!

– Amber Tamblyn