'New trick' at 50: Fiction. And now, raves. - Harvard Gazette

"You sort of feel a connection back through centuries. As academics, we're all book-lovers ourselves, and to be reminded how sacred books are feels a little bit like coming home. This reflection captures Rich-Edwards' experience during the lecture that inspired her novel, highlighting how scholarly work can evoke profound emotional and creative responses."

"Fiction might seem an unlikely pursuit for Rich-Edwards, an epidemiologist and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her own Radcliffe fellowship project focused on childhood trauma and its impact on addiction, appetite, and health. But she began writing fiction at 50, demonstrating that career transitions and creative pursuits can emerge at any stage of life."

Janet Rich-Edwards, an epidemiologist and Harvard Medical School associate professor, began writing fiction at age 50 after attending a Radcliffe lecture by Katie Bugyis about liturgical books created by medieval nuns. This presentation sparked her inspiration for her debut novel 'Canticle,' which follows Aleys, a 13th-century woman prone to mystical visions who joins the beguines, a self-sufficient lay religious community. The novel explores themes of faith, doubt, and women's spiritual and intellectual freedom. Rich-Edwards' transition from epidemiology to fiction demonstrates how academic pursuits and creative endeavors can intersect, with her Radcliffe fellowship project on childhood trauma and health informing her broader intellectual interests.

Read at Harvard Gazette