This blog is my pitch. If you want to sponsor this project, if you are an interested agent or publisher that needs this in their portfolio, please get in touch. thefool@astridpoot.nl
About the book
Wise enough to play the fool is a sharp, witty, unfiltered book on autism. With her frank and self-deprecating story, the author and her annoying cat show what autism is to them. Awkward, yes. But also a strong source.
She also places autism in society: The distinction between the ordinary people and the different people is false. By clinging to us-them thinking, we work against a connected society. The reality is not that there is a standard and what deviates from it falls out of the working world, the reality is that we are all infinitely different. And that is of great value. The author mirrors experiences from her own life on great thinkers such as Johan Huizinga, Immanuel Kant, Grayson Perry and Hannah Arendt.
As the odd one out, the author often conforms to the social norm. But luckily this is not always necessary: being strange gives others the opportunity to be strange as well. The art is to live together, while we adapt to each other and give and take space.
We become ourselves while together.
Content of the book
Mat the cat will be the omniscient narrator in the book. She’s got this autism thing completely under control. She will explain the behaviour of her human to the readers and offer a nice introduction into each new topic.
- What is this book?
- The start of the story: the label
- Early days
- I am not my own
- Being crazy ill
- Decision
- Being the odd one out
- The different brain: on autism
- Thinking is without boundaries: the inner world
- Seeing it all
- Painfully honest (Learning from Immanuel Kant)
- Going down down down: meltdown/ shutdown
- (Self)love
- Paying attention so the self (Learning from Joke Hermsen)
- Tools for survival
- Life in the sandbox: dealing with the outside world (Learning from Johan Huizinga)
- Being you (Learning from Grayson Perry)
- Being part of the all
- Future
- Love being crazy: the jester (Learning from Hannah Arendt)
- Happy and proud: yey autism
- Closing words: Together in this world
Audience
My book is for people on the spectrum, especially young women. It’s the book i’d have wanted as a girl. I also expect it to be of value to carers, education professionals and people who work in health care.
The onorthodox storytelling makes it different from the ‘Autism, a guide to being as normal as possible.’ genre. It does not provide aid nor tells you what to do. It shares experiences and allows for a laugh.
On Astrid Poot
Astrid Poot is an awardwinning designer, writer and artist.
Based in Amsterdam, she works as a strategy and concept developer with museums, libraries and educational publishers on products that make people stronger. She regularly works with students in universities of applied sciences and gives lectures on various stages.
For the past 3 years she has been conducting extensive research into practical ethics (Her DIY ethics handbook sold 400 copies). In her autism project she uses the learnings from this research.
- Ethics project: Making it right
For the autism project she was given a writer in residency position at the Wolkerstuin, where the first steps were taken for Wise enough to play the fool.
Like I said: if you are sponsor, an agent or publisher and you need the translated manuscript or an appointment, please get in touch. Love! thefool@astridpoot.nl