This week's guest is Elizabeth Benedict - a bestselling author whose novels include Almost and Slow Dancing. Her most recent book is a cancer memoir entitled Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own. Elizabeth's nonfiction spans a range of themes from sexual politics to money to literature and includes The Joy of Writing Sex, which has been the classic reference for writing about sex in fiction for the past 25 years. In this episode, we explore many different ways of understanding the cancer journey, including the way a doctor’s own emotional landscape affects the process of diagnosing a patient. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This episode was produced by Claire de Laszlo Marshall, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. 

Elizabeth’s Reading List

1. In Gratitude by Jenny Diski

2. The Anatomy of Hope by Jerome Groopman MD

3. On Mortality by Atul Gawande

4. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag