“Many writers have spoken with me privately about the feeling that they cannot remember childhood. But if I ask specific, concrete questions—‘Where was the table in the kitchen where you ate as a child? Where was the window in your bedroom?’—pictures come to the mind of the writer who ‘cannot remember.’ A picture is an image, and a longtime remembered image is like a riddle. What astonishes me is how often, if we work carefully and patiently, the slightest childhood image will give up its secret..”
—Pat Schneider

Picturing the past

STORIES OF BRAVE YOUNG MEN
A scrapbook packed with memories from WWI soldiers, including a poignant account of the 1914 Christmas truce (and a fragment of a white surrender flag), sold for thousands at auction. Around 90 wounded serviceman contributed to a nurse’s journal as part of their recuperation in hospital. 

‘MARK YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY’
“You have to create images that speak.” Jamel Shabazz has long been one of my favorite photographers; while he is known as a street photographer, I would label him a photographer of humanity. “Love is the foundation of a lot of my work.” Here, a look behind the scenes, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art:

On memoir

HOW TO BE A WRITER
“My problem was I thought you had to know what you were doing. Nonsense. You just have to start.” Memoirist Abigail Thomas on writing, plus a bonus side door prompt.

DETAILS IN FAMILY STORIES
“When writing a family story, too many flowery words can drag down a narrative. But stark facts alone won’t ignite your reader’s imagination. Rhonda Lauritzen on what’s the right amount of detail to ensure a compelling read.

PREPARE, ASK, LISTEN, PRESERVE
“Your curiosity represents the curiosity of others who may engage with the project later.” Whitney Myers on listening with intention and other tried-and-true methods for getting the best out of an interview subject.

INDUSTRY TRENDS
“Publishers are turning away from personal stories. Have readers stopped caring about each other’s lives?” Have memoirs become “almost impossible to sell”?

THE GIFT OF MEMORIES
My Write Your Life course delivers weekly memory and writing prompts via email—and just in time for holiday giving, I explore who this gift might be right (and wrong!) for. Is it you?

Manifestations of memory

MEMORIES ON A PLATE
“We prioritized narratives that emphasized intergenerational bonds, rituals, and culinary traditions,” say the editors of a new book that invites readers into 100 kitchens across India to sample food steeped in story.

HOLIDAY FOOD TRADITIONS
A new survey finds nearly half of Americans can’t make family-favorite holiday dish due to lost recipes. “Older family members in particular may hold the key to the secret ingredient from grandma’s sweet potato pie or, in my case, aunt Rhonda’s lemon meringue,” said genealogist Crista Cowan.

MORE THAN A FAMILY RECIPE
Fearless Fabulous You's Melanie Young says, “Making a family recipe and sharing a story about the person who used to prepare it can be an emotional glue that binds everyone together to recognize that person who is no longer seated at the table.”

EXPLORING YOUR ROOTS
Online tools are helping Americans travel abroad to discover their ancestry, seek out relatives, and obtain documentation for dual citizenship. Here are tips for planning a family heritage trip.

BEARING WITNESS IN SONG
“Guta uses songs to bring memories back, and she safely connects with her (often traumatic) past in this manner, in order to fulfill the imperative to remember those who have gone before us.” Filmmaker preserves songs from the Holocaust.

Telling tales

STORYTELLING CREATES UNITY
“I consider myself an itinerant storyteller,” Levar Burton said. “And the invitation is a storyteller’s stock and trade because he’s asking the audience if they want to hear his story.”

ON SELF-REFLECTION
Rachael Cerrotti has been exploring the stories we tell ourselves in her Along The Seam podcast. “But sometimes we need a break from our own narratives. Sometimes (often times?) our minds are not our best mirrors of self and we need the gift of someone else’s observations.”

SELF-PORTRAITS, NEW YORK CITY
E.B. White “was a master at finding the exact words for these small but unforgettable moments, but he always considered himself ‘a non-poet who occasionally breaks into song.’”

Journals and letters

‘THE MAKING OF SYLVIA PLATH’ EXCERPT
How Sylvia Plath found her literary voice by keeping a diary: “At an early age, Plath realized you could incorporate yourself in a medium.”

NO ORDINARY JOE
Joe Brainard’s “trove of letters leads him down from Mount Olympus on a staircase of his own words. Love, Joe reveals a man who had faults, as well as desires that could be pragmatic and unsurprisingly ambitious.”

Holiday memory-keeping

GIFT IDEAS FOR THE FAMILY HISTORIAN
Every year Family Tree magazine updates its holiday genealogy gift list—the editors say it goes “beyond DNA tests,” and it certainly does. I am honored to be included among the memory and preservation gift ideas.

PRICELESS PRESENTS
This list of “perfectly sentimental gifts for the ones who cherish memories more than things” is vastly different from the one above (my favorite recommendation just may be the heirloom trunk for safekeeping mementos).

‘DEAR MRS. DOYLE’
Not only is the audio story snippet below heartwarming and filled with gratitude just in time for Thanksgiving, but it also employs a striking graphic animation style to bring the story to life:

...and a few more links

• Will heavily funded AI publisher Spines replace the role of publisher, as it promises?

• Writers condemn startup Spines’s plans to publish 8,000 books next year using AI.

• Estate clean-out? Sort objects while preserving memories.

• A “By the Book” interview with memoirist Glory Edim.

• What happens to your photos and videos when you die?

• “Portrait of My Mother Studying for Her Citizenship Exam,” a poem by Eduardo Martínez-Leyva

• Using storytelling as a tool for mentorship in schools and workplaces

• 50 interesting historical photos that might teach you something new, from Bored Panda

• Would you pay $1,000 for a family photo?

Short takes