Life Story Links: October 17, 2023

“Readers never get it all. They get some of all of it. Everything I write is true. But I don’t write about everything true. I shape, I cut, I feint and dodge; I want to get to something that is uniquely mine, and at the same time ours, too.”
—Dominique Browning

Vintage poster produced in 1939 by the Work Projects Administration; image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Digital Collection. The posters were designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs in seventeen states and the District of Columbia between 1936 to 1943.

Way more than memories

VOICE AND IDENTITY
“As I read back my words I feel the slipperiness of time, the way a memoir is a snapshot that pins us to moments in our lives and the way that time rolls ceaselessly.” Freda Love Smith on the difficulty of narrating her own memoir.

STORYTELLING AND DEMENTIA
StoryKeep’s Jamie Yuenger “explores the profound impact of using storytelling as a therapeutic tool for people with early-stage dementia, highlighting the use of images, music, and story prompts to bring back cherished memories.”

A CHANCE TO SPEAK
“I have since realized that the real power of memoir is that through the process of writing, the writer learns to own their story, and to find authority in its telling.” Memoirist Lily Dunn on the aftermath of writing about fathers.

STORIES ABOUT HERSELF
“In all this writing and thinking and talking...I am trying to look beneath the stories that so many others have told me and perhaps uncover some truths about my childhood, always hoping to make sense of it so I can make sense of myself.”

THE STUFF THAT HOLDS MEANING
Our homes have soul—they have stories to tell!—says Erin Napier, author of the new book Heirloom Rooms. She brought her grandmother’s buttermilk biscuit bowl to GMA to illustrate how our loved ones’ items can help keep them close:

Mining our stories

WRITING, MEANING-MAKING
“The mapping of my experiences to a narrative has led me to a new emotional plane more than once.” Minda Honey reflects on the catharsis of writing about sex in memoir.

UNPACKING THE TRUTH
“I wanted to really examine the story of who I am, and how I came to be, and how this fact of my conception actually impacted the way that I've dealt with truth and shame throughout my entire life,” Kerry Washington says about her new memoir, Thicker Than Water.

‘UNFINISHED’
“It occurs to me that perhaps I linger because there is something about a liminal space and time that gives me more pleasure than actually getting through to the other side.” Ruminations from Lyn Slater on her “How To Be Old” blog.

HOW TO REMEMBER?
“For a couple of days before I began writing, I just let what memories that I had of my early life [come],” Patrick Stewart says of accessing his memories for his new memoir. “By opening up those doors, things trickled and then ended up flooding in.”

Current biography & life story offerings

‘I DON’T WANT TO BE ERASED’
“In the months, then weeks, before his death, Reed fretted about his legacy, worrying that time would erase him.” Read an excerpt from the new biography Lou Reed: The King of New York.

AN ESSENTIAL AMERICAN STORY
“As a documentarian, part of my job is to really, before I use my camera, [is to] make sure that I really understand where they come from and what is their tragedy or what is their life.” Raoul Peck’s new documentary examines one family’s attempts to hold on to property they’ve owned for over 100 years.

CELEBRATING MEMORIES
Reba McEntire calls her new book/album combo “a medley [that] is, after all, not just a cookbook, a photo album or a narrative of my life. It’s a melange of everything.”