Who would have expected that walking her poodle in Granby woods would have inspired Dana McSwain to write a creative non-fiction piece that was selected to appear in the 2024 Connecticut Literary Anthology? Everyone who knows McSwain, that’s who!
In fact, McSwain’s piece, The Perfect Stranger, is so compelling that the anthology’s editor and prize-winning author Victoria Buitron has asked McSwain to read it at the Mark Twain House when the anthology is unveiled on Oct. 20. The anthology, which includes the best poetry, non-fiction and prose produced by Connecticut writers over the past year, is the jewel of the Central Connecticut State University’s English Department.
“Only a few writers have been asked to read, so I feel so very honored,” McSwain said.
Like all her writing, The Perfect Stranger is an exquisitely crafted and compelling read. “Most of my non-fiction work explores feminism in my lifetime,” McSwain says. “As a Gen X-er, I’m interested in why strangers become friends and what silent cultures pull us in. For many women, truths bubble up when they’re with another woman. There’s something deep in our evolution that tells us who to trust. To hold another woman’s secret is a special moment that feels so precious.”
McSwain said that the idea for this piece came to her when she was personally in a low place. “I was separated from my children [who were away at college]. We had lost one of our dogs and our poodle Pippi was suddenly afraid of everything. When I was hiking in the woods, women, strangers who approached me, were sharing secrets. In this beautiful society here, women with secrets too heavy to carry share them with other women. What I wrote is something that a woman shared with me.”
McSwain said she believes that women know intuitively that their mothers and grandmothers were healed by sharing. “It is such a beautiful culture among women,” she said.
But why is the secret that is revealed in her essay pregnancy? “I wanted it to be pregnancy because when you’re pregnant, you’re both excited and terrified because you know that so many things can go wrong,” McSwain said. “There’s something innate inside that makes us need to share that fear. We’re so afraid, but we know it’s safe to share our fear with another woman. There’s a shorthand that we all understand.”
One glance at an excerpt from McSwain’s essay says it all. “Branches snap around the bend—but close. The new dog streaks back to me, an ink blot puddling at my feet. There are bears in these woods, but it’s not bears I worry about. They pay us no more than a passing glance before lumbering on, as uninterested in interaction as I am. Up trail, a woman appears, and I instinctively relax.”
McSwain will join 11 other writers reading their work at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, at the Mark Twain House, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Reserve a seat at eventbrite.com