Alan Williamson: Bipolarity and the Creative Process (July 2025)

Bipolarity, or manic depression, is often said to be the occupational disease of writers and artists. And there are statistical studies that back this up. A daunting prognosis–but the survival and artistic triumph of manic-depressive writers can also be a source of courage. And the bipolar writer may also have a special understanding of how everyone’s perceptions of the world are relative, shaped by mood and internal landscapes. We will be looking at the life and works of Robert Lowell and Virginia Woolf.