Reflections on Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, (Auto)Biography, Life-Writing, and the Essay
15 Feb 2013 at 10:26
Julija Šukys
Blurbs, Canada, CanLit, Editing, Libraries, Marketing, Media, Publicity, Publishing, Research, Social Media, Uncategorized, Writing
OK, so as authors we are told constantly that we have to market our own books. The publishing industry, for better or worse, has largely washed its hands of promotion, except for the lucky and most commercial few. The rest of us are largely on our own. Authors must have a website (check), keep [...]
13 Aug 2012 at 16:15
Julija Šukys
Biography, E-books, Eastern Europe, Epistolophilia, Friendship, Life-writing, Lithuania, Memory, Ona Šimaitė, Research, Uncategorized, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Writing
A friend wrote me that she’d bought the Kindle version of Epistolophilia. She commented: “Really easy to read writing and I love the conversational style you use, although such a heavy topic. I find I have to read in doses. How did you keep from getting swallowed by sorrow while doing all the work and [...]
31 Jul 2012 at 09:54
Julija Šukys
Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Letters, Memory, Mothering, Multiple Sclerosis, Ona Šukienė, Personal Essays, Photographs, Research, Uncategorized, Writing
Today, I return to my manuscripts. I’ve got both an essay and a book that I abandoned unceremoniously some four months ago. I can’t wait to get back to them. But there were good reasons for my break from writing: there was our house in Gozo to pack up, our life to get back in [...]
03 Jun 2012 at 13:05
Julija Šukys
Academia, Archives, Biography, Canada, Children, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Epistolophilia, Essays, Exile, Feminism, France, Interviews, Journeys, Language and Multilingualism, Letters, Libraries, Life-writing, Lithuania, Marketing, Media, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Publicity, Publishing, Research, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Virginia Woolf, Writing
Here’s an interview I did with ForeWord Reviews, a great publication that focuses on books published by independent presses. You can access the original here (scroll down to the bottom of the page): Conversational interviews with great writers who have earned a review in ForeWord Reviews. Our editorial mission is to continuously increase attention to [...]
13 Apr 2012 at 07:19
Julija Šukys
Academia, Contests and Prizes, Funding, Humanities, Research, Residencies and Fellowships, Uncategorized, Writing
Ah, the Guggenheims… Other than the MacArthur “genius” grants (which you can’t apply for), these are the most coveted awards among artists, writers, and researchers. Congratulations to this year’s winners, and especially to Ruth Franklin of The New Republic, whose pieces I’ve been reading with great interest ever since we got connected on Facebook. You [...]
22 Mar 2012 at 06:33
Julija Šukys
Children, Countdown to Publication, France, Friendship, Journeys, Judaism, Malta and Gozo, Mothering, North Africa, Research, SheWrites, Uncategorized
A few months ago, a friend asked me before departing to France on sabbatical if she should be concerned about anti-Semitism there. “Oh no,” I said, dismissing her concerns. Now, in the wake of the Toulouse Jewish school shooting, I see I may have been wrong to be so quick in my assurance that all [...]
08 Mar 2012 at 07:26
Julija Šukys
Archives, Chronology, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Epistolophilia, Letters, Life-writing, Memory, Ona Šimaitė, Research, Reviews, SheWrites, Structure, Uncategorized, Writing
The first review of Epistolophilia: Writing the Life of Ona Šimaitė appeared a few days ago. And even though this isn’t my first book or review, it’s still a wild ride to have strangers reading my work. In her review of the book, Claire Posner points to a major challenge that I faced writing this [...]
16 Feb 2012 at 06:31
Julija Šukys
Archives, Biography, Children, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Epistolophilia, Friendship, Funding, Journeys, Letters, Libraries, Life-writing, Lithuania, Marketing, Memoir, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Publicity, Publishing, Research, SheWrites, Silence is Death, Uncategorized, Vilna Ghetto, Vilnius, Writing
The day before yesterday I received a note from my publisher saying that copies of my book had arrived in the warehouse, and that I could begin announcing its publication. Though my official date of publication is March 1, 2012, the baby’s come early. It’s a strange and great feeling to know that my book [...]
05 Feb 2012 at 06:37
Julija Šukys
Academia, Calls for Submissions, Contests and Prizes, Creative Nonfiction, Eastern Europe, Humanities, Jerusalem, Research, Uncategorized
Established in 2011, this prize in memory of Abraham Meir Schwartzbaum, Holocaust Survivor, and his Family who was murdered in the Holocaust is awarded annually in recognition of high scholarly research and writing on the Holocaust. Last year’s prize was awarded to: Prof. Christopher R. Browning, for his book Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor [...]
19 Jan 2012 at 04:22
Julija Šukys
Academia, Algeria, Archives, Biography, Catholicism, Children, Christianity, Countdown to Publication, Creative Nonfiction, Domesticity, Eastern Europe, Editing, Epistolophilia, Grad School, Journeys, Libraries, Lithuania, Mothering, Ona Šimaitė, Paris, Research, Residencies and Fellowships, Russia, Saints, SheWrites, Siberia, Silence is Death, Tahar Djaout, Uncategorized, Writing
This is Who-Man. My son and I invented him over breakfast this morning. Who-Man is a superhero whose arch-enemy is a many-eyed monster called “Crime.” Who-Man wears a bumpy suit (as you can see in Sebastian’s rendition of him above). The suit can shoot fire, but our hero rarely has to use this weapon. He [...]
