Fitness Expert CASEY JOHNSTON Shares Her Memoir A PHYSICAL EDUCATION

American writer and editor, CASEY JOHNSTON, will share her deeply personal memoir A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting. Casey will be joined in conversation by journalist and author, ALEXIS MADRIGAL.

In A Physical Education, Casey Johnston recounts how she ventured into the brave new world of weightlifting, leaving behind years of restrictive eating and endless cardio. Woven through the trajectory of how she rebuilt her strength and confidence is a staggering exposé of the damaging doctrine spread by diet and fitness culture.

CASEY JOHNSTON is an American writer and editor. She has written the fitness advice column Ask a Swole Woman for multiple outlets since 2016 and a newsletter about weightlifting, She’s a Beast, since 2021.

ALEXIS MADRIGAL is an Oakland based journalist, the co-host of KQED’s current affairs show, Forum, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Fusion and a staff writer at Wired. His latest book, The Pacific Circuit, came out in March 2025. He is the proprietor of the "Oakland Garden Club", a newsletter for people who like to think about plants. Madrigal authored the book Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology.