In this episode of The Archive Project, we share a conversation from the 2022 Portland Book Festival. Actress Selma Blair discusses her debut memoir, Mean Baby, with Esmé Weijun Wang, author of the novel The Border of Paradise and the best-selling essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias.

March is National Disability Awareness Month. Much of Selma’s memoir describes her life with a litany of symptoms that were diagnosed as the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis, or MS, in 2018 when Blair was in her forties. She has since emerged as an advocate for disability awareness and inclusion. Blair told Variety that, after her diagnosis, “I started thinking more about the power of storytelling and why representation in media matters. If I had seen and heard from people who were like me, maybe I wouldn’t have felt so alone. Perhaps if I’d had more diverse representation to look up to, I would have learned about my diagnosis earlier on.”

Selma and Esmé talk about the importance and comfort of seeing other people’s stories, from social media to books and movies. As Selma says, “It’s the little stories that are actually the big stories that shape your life.” In telling her own story in her book, Mean Baby, Selma also reaches a new self-understanding through the process of writing and sharing. It’s a wonderful conversation, full of insight, honesty, and humor. A note that you’ll hear Wang and Blair reference Scout, who is Blair’s service dog, who joined them on stage.

Selma Blair, on growing up: “I was always by myself–really a loner–and books were my friends.”

Selma Blair is an actress best known for her roles in Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions, The Sweetest Thing, and Hellboy. Her memoir, released in 2022, is Mean Baby. Blair was named a Time Person of the Year in 2017 as one of their Silence Breakers, and she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for her narration of The Diary of Anne Frank. She is the subject of the documentary Introducing, Selma Blair, which reveals Blair’s intimate and raw journey with multiple sclerosis. Blair lives with her son in Los Angeles.

Esmé Weijun Wang is a novelist and essayist. She is the author of the New York Times-bestselling essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias (2019), and a debut novel, The Border of Paradise. She was named by Granta as one of the “Best of Young American Novelists” on its decennial list in 2017 and won the Whiting Award for nonfiction in 2018. Born in the Midwest to Taiwanese parents, she is the founder of The Unexpected Shape™ Writing Academy for ambitious writers living with limitations.