A Narrative-Based Medicine Lab Live EventThe Comforts of Reading: What Are the Benefits of Bibliotherapy?
Jürgen Pieters in conversation with Allan Peterkin
Wednesday November 9 2022, 12pm (Toronto)

What if your doctor prescribed you a poem?
At this special free event, two experts in the theory and practice of bibliotherapy present the latest news from the fast-growing field in which works of literature are “prescribed” therapeutically, particularly in mental health.
Many bibliotherapy projects attempt to show that reading has health benefits, but as a literary scholar, Jürgen Pieters’ interest is in the specifics. His new book, Literature and Consolation (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), delves into the history and theory of bibliotherapy from Homer to Roland Barthes in order to find out, What exactly is it in a piece of writing that triggers therapeutic effects? What aspects have the greatest impact on readers? And how might knowing the answers to these questions affect the practice of bibliotherapy today? How should we curate our library of comforts?
Allan Peterkin, Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, is a renowned leader in the field of Narrative-Based Medicine. He has published extensively on therapeutic writing , how reading fosters empathy for others and bibliotherapy, and employs its tenets in his own practice in ways he will share in response to Professor Pieters’ work. He will present a brief literature review of what we know so far.
This event showcases a new research and teaching collaboration between the Narrative-Based Medicine Lab (CPD Temerty, University of Toronto) and the Department of Literary Studies, University of Ghent. We hope to see you and tell you more about this exciting collaborative venture
Attend this free event to be entered in our draw to win a Custom Flight of four books from Flying Books!
Jürgen Pieters is a Professor in Literary Theory at Ghent University (Belgium). His research interests include the history of poetics and Early Modern Studies, and he is the author of books on Stephen Greenblatt, the humanistic topos of conversations with the dead, and the Dutch 17th-century poet Constantijn Huygens. Professor Pieters has most recently published Literature and Consolation: Fictions of Comfort (Edinburgh University Press, 2021)
“In his remarkably informed and sensitive study, Jürgen Pieters proposes an exceptional long-term perspective on the diverse uses of literature throughout centuries and this allows us to understand on a deeper level how and why contemporary literature can now claim what could be called a new consoling turn.”
– William Marx, Collège de France
Allan Peterkin is a Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, where he heads the Program In Health, Arts and Humanities. He is the author of 14 books for adults on medical humanities, cultural history ,narrative medicine, human sexuality and physician wellness, including “Staying Human During Residency Training-How To Survive and Thrive After Medical School (now in its 7th edition). He has also published four picture books for children, the most recent, “Peacock and Sketch” (Magination Press, 2022).
Book photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash