Fessler’s 1991 Adoption Stories chapbook is the product of a writing workshop for surrendering mothers and adoptees from the local community, she organized in connection with her Genetics Lesson installation at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art in 1990. At the conclusion of the workshop, Fessler designed the chapbook that was subsequently given to participants.

The workshop was Fessler’s first opportunity to facilitate the telling of other people’s stories as part of her artistic practice. It has since become a hallmark of her work. A few sample pages from the Adoption Stories chapbook are viewable on this site.

Adoption Stories, edited by Ann Fessler, 1991
Writings by Mary Anne Cohen, Lillian Kozial, Julia Swale, Anne Marie Utratel; assisted by Victoria Hallerman; 32 pages, Baltimore, Maryland, 1991
Out of Print

Mary Anne Cohen’s poems were introduced to the group at the workshop and she generously contributed Poem for Michael and Papers to the book.

The workshop was funded, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York.