“Even before we consciously know what a story is, we are gathering material for the self-defining story we will someday compose.”
—Dan P. McAdams, Ph.D.

Autobiographical media to check out

HOLD THE ONIONS
“Food is home. And if you talk about it the smell comes to you and home comes back,” said Tova Friedman, an 84-year-old survivor of Auschwitz whose recipes are included in Honey Cake and Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors.

“THE STORIES WE TELL”
“At some point, I realized I was writing a story—my story. The bits and pieces that shape who I am. It was messy and winding and beautiful, and graciously revealed about a million wonders. Some of it broke my heart—and some of it pieced it back together.” Joanna Gaines is releasing her first solo memoir in November.

“I WANTED TO BOTTLE HIM UP”
Filmmaker Oni Timoner thought she was creating a home movie…until it became the most important story of her life. This film, Last Flight Home, despite this mixed review, is at the top of my must-see list (it’s now playing in theaters):

Writing outside the box

GENRE BENDING
“If you want to write a memoir without writing a memoir, go ahead and call it something else. Let other people argue about it. Arguing with yourself or the dead will get you nowhere,” Elizabeth McCracken writes in her new fictionalized memoir.

CONTAINERS FOR OUR STORIES
“Experimenting with storytelling forms can introduce you to compelling, layered ways of telling your stories,” Vanessa Mártir writes in this introduction to three new, affordable virtual “Writing Our Lives” classes.

Family history storytelling

HOW TO PRESERVE YOUR FAMILY ARCHIVE
“Everyone started realizing how precious these memories are and, if they don’t pass them down, we will lose them.... I started asking questions during our monthly family Zoom calls and it opened Pandora’s box.”

NEARLY ‘ERASED BY HISTORY’
“Connecting descendants to their ancestors involves detective work: collecting oral histories from family members and local elders; tracking death certificates; studying property maps and deeds; and combing spotty and unforgiving records.” African Americans search for lost graves.

CUSTODIANS OF MEMORY
Last week I shared three ways to leave a personal legacy that has a positive impact on our loved ones; I view this as both a responsibility we bear and a gift we can give.

First person reads worth your time

FRIDAYS AT THE BEAUTY PARLOR
This personal essay about her mother’s salon routine—“a “weekly commitment to beauty,...a sacred form of worship”—is an example that the best autobiographical writing often comes at things from a surprising angle.

ON HIS CHILDHOOD MIGRATION
“From up the river, we see two boats approaching. They’re identical to ours: no canopy, filled with people, and big red gasoline barrels near the back.” Read an excerpt from the recently released Solito by Javier Zamora.

...and a few more links

• 3 ways dementia patients benefit from photo reminiscence

• Registration for RootsTech 2023—both the in-person and virtual events—is open now.

• A decade after Hurricane Sandy, volunteer historians restore a Queens, New York, neighborhood's lost memories.

• How to get the kids involved in your family story project

• “I’m doing it because it helps me remember.”

• Robert De Niro’s career in five artifacts

• This month from the Biographers Guild of Greater New York: Writing your memoir: DIY vs. hiring an expert

Short takes