Reflections on Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, (Auto)Biography, Life-Writing, and the Essay
14 Mar 2012 at 08:23
Julija Šukys
Autobiography, Brain Injury, CNF Conversations, Contests and Prizes, Creative Nonfiction, Life-writing, Memory, Mental Illness, Mira Bartók, Mothering, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing
Congratulations to Mira Bartók on winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography for The Memory Palace. The Circle says The Memory Palace “rose to the formal challenge of blending her mother’s journals, reflections on her mother’s mental illness and subsequent homelessness, and thoughts on her own recovery from a head injury to create [...]
06 Feb 2012 at 07:49
Julija Šukys
Autobiography, Biography, Brain Injury, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Memoir, Memory, Mental Illness, Mira Bartók, Mothering, Uncategorized, Writing
Mira Bartók, The Memory Palace. Free Press, 2011. “Even now, when the phone rings late at night, I think it’s her. I stumble out of bed ready for the worst. The last time my mother called was in 1990. I was thirty-one and living in Chicago. She said if I didn’t come home right away [...]
29 Nov 2011 at 07:31
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Autobiography, Biography, CNF Conversations, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Essays, Feminism, Jerusalem, Journeys, Judaism, Language and Multilingualism, Letters, Memoir, Nancy K. Miller, Publishing, Research, Russia, Uncategorized, Writing
Nancy K. Miller. What They Saved: Pieces of Jewish Past. University of Nebraska Press, 2011. * In her new memoir, What They Saved: Pieces of a Jewish Past, Nancy K. Miller tells the story of how she reconstructed her family’s missing past from a handful of mysterious objects found in dresser drawers and apartment closets after [...]
29 Nov 2011 at 07:31
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Autobiography, Biography, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Feminism, Jerusalem, Journeys, Judaism, Language and Multilingualism, Letters, Life-writing, Memoir, Nancy K. Miller, Orthodoxy, Publishing, Research, Russia, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
Nancy K. Miller. What They Saved: Pieces of Jewish Past. University of Nebraska Press, 2011. * This is Part II of a two-part interview. Click here to read Part I. Julija Šukys: I loved reading your descriptions of how you related to “The Old Country” before this quest. “Russia, a vast faraway, almost mythical kingdom [...]
11 Nov 2011 at 04:27
Julija Šukys
Academia, Autobiography, Biography, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Editing, Epistolophilia, Journeys, Libraries, Malta and Gozo, Memoir, Mothering, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
I haven’t written much here on the blog lately. In part, this is because I’ve been working surprisingly well. I’m making swift progress, and the energy I pour into my new book (#3) leaves little for writing here. Writing resources, it seems, are finite. Undertaking the writing of a book is daunting. It’s a tough [...]
11 Oct 2011 at 04:10
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Autobiography, Beth Kaplan, Biography, Canada, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Exile, Journalism, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Letters, Marketing, Memoir, Mothering, Publishing, Rejection, Research, Russia, Theatre, Translation, Uncategorized, Virginia Woolf, Writing, Yiddish
Beth Kaplan, Finding the Jewish Shakespeare: The Life and Legacy of Jacob Gordin. Syracuse University Press, 2007 (Paperback 2012). * In this revelatory biography, Beth Kaplan sets out to explore the true character and creative achievements of her great-grandfather Jacob Gordin, playwright extraordinaire and icon of the Yiddish stage. Born of an Anglican mother and [...]
11 Oct 2011 at 04:10
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Autobiography, Beth Kaplan, Biography, Children, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Exile, Friendship, Journalism, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Lituanus, Marketing, Memoir, Publishing, Rejection, Research, Russia, Theatre, Translation, Uncategorized, Vilnius
Beth Kaplan, Finding the Jewish Shakespeare: The Life and Legacy of Jacob Gordin. Syracuse University Press, 2007 (Paperback 2012). * This is Part II of a two-part interview with Beth Kaplan about her book, Finding the Jewish Shakespeare. Click here to read Part I. Julija Šukys: My second question about language is about your relationship [...]
26 Sep 2011 at 13:39
Julija Šukys
Autobiography, Beth Kaplan, Biography, Calls for Submissions, CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Daiva Markelis, Feminism, Myrna Kostash, Nancy K. Miller, Publishing, Susan Olding, Uncategorized, Writing
A few months ago, I started a feature on the site called CNF Conversations, where I interview other writers of creative nonfiction. (CNF stands for creative nonfiction.) I was looking for a way to do something of substance, to build community, to meet fellow writers, and to learn more about what was happening in the genre. [...]
09 Aug 2011 at 19:56
Julija Šukys
Academia, Addiction, Autobiography, Catholicism, Children, Christianity, CNF Conversations, Conferences and Symposia, Creative Nonfiction, Daiva Markelis, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Exile, Friendship, Language and Multilingualism, Lithuania, Louise DeSalvo, Memoir, Mothering, Publishing, Siberia, Uncategorized, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Writing
Daiva Markelis, White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life. University of Chicago Press, 2010. * Her parents never really explained what a D.P. was. Years later Daiva Markelis learned that “displaced person” was the designation bestowed upon European refugees like her mom and dad who fled communist Lithuania after the war. Growing up in the Chicago suburb [...]
22 Jul 2011 at 17:39
Julija Šukys
Academia, Autobiography, Canada, Domesticity, Editing, Grad School, Humanities, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Uncategorized
The books that have surrounded me in this room for six years now go into boxes to make space for our tenants. The books – mine and my husband’s – are all mixed together. Our collection includes books of theory from our student days, Lithuanian novels, linguistic studies of Sanskrit, Chinese literary anthologies, memoirs of [...]
