Renata Ažman’s book Yoyo was created out of the author’s struggles with bipolar disorder and her self-treatment through therapeutic writing. The original concept of therapeutic writing, which was first presented at the Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health at the University of Birmingham in 2008 as the final stage of treatment, means writing and publishing a story about one’s most severe trauma. In the author’s case, this was psychological violence and sexual abuse in the family, which found its place in Yoyo, at the same time representing the end and a new beginning. The end of fear, pain and suffering and the beginning of a new path, liberated from stigma.
The presentation will be moderated by journalist Jelena Aščić. Jelena is a reporter for the Slovenian national broadcaster and studied the topic of sexual abuse in Slovenia when creating an acclaimed documentary Dossier.
Renata Ažman is a writer and a former journalist who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1993 and has since been hospitalised three times. In 2003 she decided to write about her experience. She published her first book, Japajade, in 2005, which was followed by Depra in 2007 and Itaq in 2011. They all have in common the treatment of stigmatised issues such as mental illness, homosexuality and sexual abuse, which is also the topic of her fourth book, Yoyo.