Jocelyn Jane Cox in Conversation with Fellow Memoirist Marty Ross-Dolen!

Former competitive figure skater shines spotlight on the life cycle, passing love to next generation, in poignant memoir, MOTION DAZZLE!

Join former competitive figure skater and coach Jocelyn Jane Cox, author of Motion Dazzle: A Memoir of Motherhood, Loss, and Skating on Thin Ice, for a conversation with fellow memoirist Marty Ross-Dolen.

The pre-purchase of Motion Dazzle while registering waives the $5 registration fee.

"I spent almost the entirety of Motion Dazzle with my heart in my throat for one reason or another."Tyler Feder, author of Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir and Bodies Are Cool

Former competitive figure skater and coach Jocelyn Jane Cox is desperate to care for her toddler and her ailing mother, all while preparing to host a fabulous zebra-themed first birthday party at her house. As a new parent whose supportive mom is slipping away with dementia, she finds herself spinning in the middle of the so-called "sandwich generation".

Cox draws on the strengths she learned while competing with her older brother as her partner. On the ice, she battled injuries and uncertainties while trying to dazzle audiences, discovering along the way that we can love and hate an activity in equal measure, and that "faking it 'til you make it" can be a viable way forward. As an adult, Jocelyn leans into performance and distraction as coping strategies while demonstrating a capability we all have: to find moments of celebration alongside pain.

Splicing her own early motherhood with memories of her single mother's TLC, Cox's choreography takes readers around the rink of a high stakes sport and into the stands...where her mother, a bit of a mystery, sits quietly amid the ovation. Motion Dazzle shines a spotlight on the life cycle and how we pass love from one generation to the next.

Jocelyn Jane Cox’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Slate, Newsweek, Literary Mama, andBuzzFeed, in addition to numerous literary and humor publications. Her fiction and nonfiction have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in New York with her son and her husband, artist Rob Strati, who is a Columbus native and graduate of Ohio State and St. Charles Preparatory.

Marty Ross-Dolen is a retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Prior to her time at VCFA, she participated in graduate-level workshops at The Ohio State University. Her essays have appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Redivider, Lilith, Willow Review, and the Brevity Blog, among others. Her essay entitled “Diphtheria” was named a notable essay in The Best American Essays series. Her memoir, Always There, Always Gone: A Daughter’s Search for Truth, was published with She Writes Press in May and is a 2025 Foreword INDIES Book Award finalist. She is a certified book coach in memoir and lives in Columbus, Ohio.