A 48-year-old woman facing middle-age malaise and the upheaval of divorce becomes a motorcycle enthusiast, turning her own quest into a larger meditation on why we need risk in order to live fuller lives. That’s the premise of Bernadette Murphy’s new memoir, Harley and Me, published in May. Murphy teaches creative nonfiction in the Antioch […]
How and why do we tell the stories of our lives? I am currently visiting my mother who is dying from brain cancer, and who is now reduced to short sentences, not all of them coherent. Life is pretty simple now: eating, watching t.v. including news of the latest San Bernardino shooting and the terrorist
Andromeda: Illness, Terrorism, and Telling Stories Read More »
Memoir is a tricky business because there’s always someone in the family who doesn’t want the story told and others whose recollections don’t line up with your own memory. To write from personal experience can feel like working your way through an emotional minefield. As Anne Lamott so aptly described in her book about
Kaylene Johnson: All in the Family Read More »
Memoir is a true story that unfolds in scenes with characters, dialogue and a reliable narrator who sets up the story and directs the readers’ way. A well-written memoir provides a glimpse into the author’s unique experience and offers an opportunity for readers to shift their own world view. As good as it is to
Judith Conte: Memoir Matters Read More »
Recounting her childhood as the daughter of a gambler and a stripper, “amid the denizens of Anchorage‘s nightlife–pimps, con men, gamblers, prostitutes, heroin addicts,” Kim Rich’s acclaimed memoir Johnny’s Girl was made into a television movie. Though Rich now lives in Texas, she returns to Alaska this summer for a retreat weekend of writing, teaching,
The Memoir: A Guest Post by Kim Rich Read More »
My TBR list gets longer every day, and I’ve meant to read Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea for several years now, most recently when his own sweet mother gave a public talk right here in Anchorage. Well, I may not bother now. Yes, I’m late to this book-club discussion and only a little less
Andromeda/Your Turn: Doubt-filled cups and the latest memoir scandal Read More »
