Peter Hedges turns pain into story—and story into something that can heal us. Today, I get to talk with him face-to-face. You’re invited.

...a timely conversation

In preparation for today’s Zoom call with novelist and filmmaker Peter Hedges, I’ve gone down several fascinating research trails—reading old Des Moines Register stories, rewatching his extraordinary films, and unearthing a few long-forgotten columns of my own.

Peter’s storytelling has always centered on complex family dynamics and emotional truths. His directorial works—Pieces of April (2003), Dan in Real Life (2007), and Ben Is Back (2018)—are layered with tenderness, heartbreak, and hope. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for About a Boy (2002), and it’s easy to see why: the man knows how to write about humans.

Last night, I rewatched Ben Is Back and found myself haunted all over again. The film’s portrayal of a family navigating addiction is devastating and unsparing, but also compassionate. Julia Roberts is stunning as the fierce, terrified mother. Lucas Hedges, Peter’s son, gives a performance so raw and real it left me breathless.

Knowing a bit about Peter’s own backstory, it’s hard not to see echoes of his life woven into the film. He grew up in West Des Moines, one of four siblings, the son of an Episcopal priest. Church, Christmas, and family dysfunction—recurring threads in his work—show up here with painful clarity.

While searching newspapers.com, I stumbled across a 1967 column my father, Gordon Gammack, wrote about Peter’s mother, Carole Hedges. She was a prominent Iowa artist before she left her husband, Father Robert Hedges, and their young children. Peter was still in elementary school. “Alcohol walked her out the door,” he has said.

That story stayed with me.

So did the two columns I found that I’d written about Peter—one on his debut novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, before it became a film that introduced the world to a young Johnny Depp and an even younger Leonardo DiCaprio.

Peter has said that his work often begins in a place of personal longing or pain. But he doesn’t stay there. He writes his way toward connection—between parent and child, stranger and friend, past and present.

That’s what makes his work endure. He tells the truth, but he also leaves the light on.

In recent weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of having a personal conversation with Peter. Our paths crossed again when he launched a new column on Substack, propelled by the political moment we’re all living through. He’s now a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative and will be teaching at the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat this September.

A theme throughout Peter’s life and work is how he transforms gut-wrenching pain into art. And maybe, just maybe, this connection we’ve forged—out of headlines, history, and heartbreak—is another example of something good emerging from something terrifying.

The erosion of democracy is real. But so is the power of story. And there is a story in everyone.

Story propels us to act. To understand. To write. To connect. And to empower others—in whatever ways we can.

To better understand what propels

Peter Hedges

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When Enough is Enough

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