Reflections on Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, (Auto)Biography, Life-Writing, and the Essay
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 [...]
22 Dec 2011 at 06:09
Julija Šukys
Archives, Children, Countdown to Publication, Epistolophilia, Essays, Language and Multilingualism, Life-writing, Ona Šimaitė, Publishing, Research, Russia, SheWrites, Translation, Uncategorized, Writing
Recently, a fellow writer (who publishes short essays and pieces of travel writing) told me about a book she’d just finished reading. It was an excellent book she said, but added with wide eyes: “It took him seven years to write! That’s crazy. I could never do that.” I have this thing I do when [...]
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 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 [...]
07 Oct 2011 at 15:52
Julija Šukys
Biography, Creative Nonfiction, Eastern Europe, Exile, Journeys, Life-writing, Memoir, Research, Russia, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
I’ve officially used up everything I know, so I’ve returned to reading. Today, I spent my morning hopping back and forth between an excruciating memoir of Siberian deportation and a novel about emigration. When the former became too painful to read, I switched to the other, then back again. The former is an amazing story. [...]
13 Apr 2011 at 13:58
Julija Šukys
CNF Conversations, Creative Nonfiction, Editing, Gardening, Mothering, Personal Essays, Russia, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
I disappeared for a while. Sorry about that. I got stuck in that place that we all know well: the fragmented, too-many-things-on-my-plate place. First of all, it’s tax season here in Canada, which for a numerically challenged humanist like me, means it’s the season of hell. So far, it’s robbed me of almost three full [...]
28 Mar 2011 at 15:47
Julija Šukys
Autobiography, Biography, Creative Nonfiction, Exile, Lithuania, Memoir, Ona Šukienė, Personal Essays, Publishing, Research, Russia, Siberia, Stephen Elliott, Uncategorized, Villages, Writing
I’ve finally started writing my new book, Siberian Time, in earnest. It will tell the story of my grandmother’s 17-year exile to Siberia. Inevitably, too, it will tell stories about my family members: my father, his sisters, my cousins, my grandfather. Because my chosen forms are the personal essay and creative nonfiction, I almost always [...]
03 Jan 2011 at 10:33
Julija Šukys
Beloved Profession, Domesticity, Journeys, Personal Essays, Russia, Siberia, Uncategorized, Writing
It’s quiet in the house for the first time in days. No feet pounding up and down the stairs, no pleas for more tv, no guitar strains floating up from the basement, and no more hacking cough or sneezing from the nasty cold that visited us. The holiday’s over, and we’re back to work. Sean’s [...]
