Sunday, July 31
6–9 PM
Join us for an evening seminar moderated by Dave Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) as the panelists discuss the challenges and joys specific to writing the memoir. Panelists for this seminar include:
Beth Lisick, spoken word artist, co-host of San Francisco's Porch Light storytelling series, and author of the new memoir Everybody into the Pool.*
August Kleinzahler, poet, professor, and author of the memoir Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained.
Tanya Shaffer, travel writer, actress and solo performer, and author of Somebody's Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa.
Ellen Ullman, computer programmer and writer, author of Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents and The Bug, and contributing editor for The American Scholar.
Ted Weinstein, founder of Ted Weinstein Literary Management.
In addition to reflecting on the writing process, the panelists will address issues related to the publishing aspects of writing, such as contacting agents and working with publishing houses. Each panelist comes to 826 with a unique experience and approach to memoir writing. No details will be spared, all pertinent secrets will be revealed.
*Entertainment Weekly writes: "Lisick's fizzy and delightful collection of autobiographical sketches comes from the David Sedaris school of drollery . . . Raised in a happy suburban family, Lisick writes about her high school forays into 'extreme tanning,' her dogged (but unsuccessful) attempts to unearth her latent bisexuality, daily life in a slummy San Francisco warehouse during the 1990s, and, in the last chapters, adjusting to motherhood. The tales veer from razor sharp to hilarious, and it's a voice - both offbeat and upbeat, wised-up yet curiously wholesome - that you're going to want to hear a lot more of. Rated an A."