I’m Elliot Gavin Keenan.

I’m an author of creative nonfiction and a PhD student at UCLA, where I research bipolar disorder and autism. I’m autistic (professionally diagnosed age 6) and I’ve lived with bipolar 1 disorder since childhood, as well as having several other diagnoses. My interests include Pokémon, strategy games, and cats.

Facts about me:

• Kay Redfield Jamison (author of An Unquiet Mind) is one of my personal heroes. She inspired me to become a psychologist.
• My favorite color is blue, specifically lighter shades of it.
• One of my favorite books is Bluets by Maggie Nelson.
• I have a lazy cat named Tarot.
• My favorite Pokémon games are HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White, XD: Gale of Darkness, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy Color.
• My prized possession is a genuine Pikachu Game Boy SP sold to me at Toys R Us in 2005. I played it all the time as a kid, but it is still in excellent condition.
• I play Commander/EDH format Magic: the Gathering at a comic book shop in Santa Monica, where I usually play Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Animar, Soul of Elements.

I think that I still have it in my heart someday to paint a bookshop with the front yellow and pink in the evening…like a light in the midst of the darkness.

Vincent van Gogh