HANDLING THE TRUTH
Coming from Gotham (Penguin USA) in August 2013. For the story behind the story, go here. Pre-order from any of these booksellers:Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Books A Million
Indiebound
iTunes
With infectious passion and hard-won wisdom, Beth Kephart eloquently celebrates the rigors and rewards of the creative process and – equally necessary – the art of crafting a meaningful life. Part memoir and part memoirist’s manifesto, this small, urgent book inspires on many levels. Read it and learn how to tell your story. Better yet, read it and begin to understand why your story matters.
Katrina Kenison, author of Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment
Beth Kephart has done something extraordinary with this huge and messy thing called memoir—roping it into submission with her typically beautifully writing. There is authority here, scholarship, challenge. In this well-organized book, every example is a precious stone to turn over and to learn from, particularly in terms of crafting a voice and finding one's way in. Too many students think memoir just happens. Nothing ever just happens. Memoir is an academic field. This should become the seminal text.
Buzz Bissinger, author of Father's Day, A Prayer for the City, and Friday Night Lights
A marvelous primer for anyone who would dare to face the furies and write about his or her life. Beth Kephart has read the genre closely, put her own feet to the fire, and distilled the form with all the passion of a great teacher.
Marie Arana, author of the National Book Award finalist American Chica
In the tradition of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, a critically acclaimed National Book Award finalist shares inspiration and practical advice for writing—and living with—memoir.
Writing memoir is a deeply personal, and consequential, undertaking. As the acclaimed author of five memoirs
spanning significant turning points in her life, Beth Kephart has been both
blessed and bruised by the genre. In Handling
the Truth, she thinks out loud about the form—on how it gets made, on what
it means to make it, on the searing language of truth, on the thin line between
remembering and imagining, and, finally, on the rights of memoirists. Drawing on proven writing lessons and classic examples, on
the work of her students and on her own memories of weather, landscape, color,
and love, Kephart probes the wrenching and essential questions that lie at the
heart of memoir.
A beautifully written work in its own right, Handling the Truth opens Kephart’s memoir-making classroom—and
thoughts—to all those who read or seek to write the truth.
Press
Starred Review, Library Journal
.Kephart, Beth. Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir. Gotham Bks. Aug. 2013. 224p. ISBN 9781592408153. pap.
$16. COMM
National Book Award finalist for A Slant of Sun, one of her several memoirs, Kephart (creative nonfiction, Univ. of Pennsylvania) has composed a gorgeous meditation on memoir. The author has achieved what few do in the crowded field of writing guides: she has created a work of art simply by reflecting on her own art—the writing and teaching of memoir. In four eloquent parts, Kephart introduces readers to the basic principles of memoir construction, suggests many writing prompts for navigating memories, and discusses the issues of describing living relatives and friends and of striving for accuracy. The book’s highest value lies in the author’s long experience with the memoir genre and its students. She writes with the same lyricism found in her own works and offers here passionate encouragement for would-be memoir writers to embrace truth and empathy, mystery and exploration. Drawing from classroom and personal examples, Kephart introduces readers to the delicate balance that creates the most honest and accomplished memoirs. An appendix of suggested memoirs for reading, grouped by category with generous annotations, is included. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone interested in the anatomy of a successful memoir and for all writers of literary nonfiction.—Stacey Rae Brownlie, Harrisburg Area Community Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
Not a memoir proper, this book fits nicely with the others on this list because it’s about writing memoir. Kephart has penned five.... She’s also mastered the fiction and essay forms and currently teaches memoir writing at the University of Pennsylvania, so she’s got the skills to explain every facet of the writing process, including that crucial issue for memoirists: where does imaginative shaping stop and disregard for truth begin.—Library Journal, Nonfiction Previews for August 2013.
Reading/Discussion
Follow this link to see a reading/discussion of Handling the Truth.
Read some of my students' work
Follow this link.
Recent Beth Kephart essays on teaching
Walking through The Woodlands in advance of teaching memoir, Philadelphia Inquirer:
What twenty-four of the nation's top teen taught me about the books they read, HuffingtonPost:
On the future of MOOCs (and personal teaching): here.
Hairography: A collection of hair autobiographies produced in conjunction with the National YoungArts writers, Link to the book here.
Pennsylvania Gazette: Links to the work of some of my Penn students.
Some Memoir Making Prompts
I have taught memoir to third graders, eighty-five-year-olds, and many in between. While Handling the Truth includes many of the exercises I've given through the years, it's not complete. There's always something new to teach, some new thing read or some new prompt devised or some question that takes me down a road that ends with students writing. Here are a few of the prompts that didn't make it into the book. I'll be adding to this page periodically.
Write the journey.
What do you desire?
The near autobiography of self
Early sensory memory
Newly Reviewed (and mostly loved) Memoirs
I will never complete my tour of memoirs. There are classics still here on my shelf—unread. There are books that are still being written. While Handling the Truth contains my thoughts on nearly 100 memoirs, I want to continue the conversation here. Certainly, I won't include my thoughts on every memoir I have read or do read; I will only address those books that fulfill the many ambitions memoir must have for itself. But when I find a book that I love, a true memoir, I will list it here and link back to my original blog reflections.
Borrowed Finery, Paula Fox
The Suicide Index, Joan Wickersham
Woolgathering, Patti Smith
The Lover, Marguerite Duras
Messages from My Father, Calvin Trillin
The Same River Twice, Chris Offutt
Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan
Events:
May 22, 2013, 2 PMStrange and Familiar Places in YA Fiction (a panel)
Drexel University Week of Writing
Philadelphia, PA
Details here.
July 2, 2013
Philadelphia Literary Legacy Unveiling
Details here
July 18, 2013, 9 AM to NoonCoffee Klatch Leader
Philadelphia Business Journal
Third Annual Women's Conference
Crystal Tea Room
Wanamaker Building
Philadelphia, PA
July 27, 2013, 3:30 - 5:00 PM
Launching Small Damages paperback/Memoir Workshop
with Debbie Levy
Hooray for Books
Old Town Alexandria, VA
August 6, 2013
Launching Handling the Truth
with a memoir workshop
Free Library of Philadelphia
(details to come)
Philadelphia, PA
September 7, 2013, 10 AM - noon
BookPassage Memoir Workshop
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925
September 7, 2013, 3 PMBooks Inc. Memoir Workshop
Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness
San Francisco, CA
September 8, 2013
Redwood Writers Workshop
Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
September 22, 2013
Chestnut Hill Book Festival
Chestnut Hill, PA
(details to come)
October 3, 2013, 6 PM
University of Pennsylvania Bookstore
Memoir Workshop/Handling the Truth
Philadelphia, PA
(details to come)
October 20, 2013
Talking Memoir with Linda Joy Myers @
Rosemont College
Rosemont, PA
(details to come)
Press Release
On Sale: August 6, 2013
Contact: Beth ParkerPress
Starred Review, Library Journal
.Kephart, Beth. Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir. Gotham Bks. Aug. 2013. 224p. ISBN 9781592408153. pap.
$16. COMM
National Book Award finalist for A Slant of Sun, one of her several memoirs, Kephart (creative nonfiction, Univ. of Pennsylvania) has composed a gorgeous meditation on memoir. The author has achieved what few do in the crowded field of writing guides: she has created a work of art simply by reflecting on her own art—the writing and teaching of memoir. In four eloquent parts, Kephart introduces readers to the basic principles of memoir construction, suggests many writing prompts for navigating memories, and discusses the issues of describing living relatives and friends and of striving for accuracy. The book’s highest value lies in the author’s long experience with the memoir genre and its students. She writes with the same lyricism found in her own works and offers here passionate encouragement for would-be memoir writers to embrace truth and empathy, mystery and exploration. Drawing from classroom and personal examples, Kephart introduces readers to the delicate balance that creates the most honest and accomplished memoirs. An appendix of suggested memoirs for reading, grouped by category with generous annotations, is included. VERDICT Highly recommended for anyone interested in the anatomy of a successful memoir and for all writers of literary nonfiction.—Stacey Rae Brownlie, Harrisburg Area Community Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
Not a memoir proper, this book fits nicely with the others on this list because it’s about writing memoir. Kephart has penned five.... She’s also mastered the fiction and essay forms and currently teaches memoir writing at the University of Pennsylvania, so she’s got the skills to explain every facet of the writing process, including that crucial issue for memoirists: where does imaginative shaping stop and disregard for truth begin.—Library Journal, Nonfiction Previews for August 2013.
Reading/Discussion
Follow this link to see a reading/discussion of Handling the Truth.
Read some of my students' work
Follow this link.
Recent Beth Kephart essays on teaching
Walking through The Woodlands in advance of teaching memoir, Philadelphia Inquirer:
What twenty-four of the nation's top teen taught me about the books they read, HuffingtonPost:
On the future of MOOCs (and personal teaching): here.
Hairography: A collection of hair autobiographies produced in conjunction with the National YoungArts writers, Link to the book here.
Pennsylvania Gazette: Links to the work of some of my Penn students.
Some Memoir Making Prompts
I have taught memoir to third graders, eighty-five-year-olds, and many in between. While Handling the Truth includes many of the exercises I've given through the years, it's not complete. There's always something new to teach, some new thing read or some new prompt devised or some question that takes me down a road that ends with students writing. Here are a few of the prompts that didn't make it into the book. I'll be adding to this page periodically.
Write the journey.
What do you desire?
The near autobiography of self
Early sensory memory
Newly Reviewed (and mostly loved) Memoirs
I will never complete my tour of memoirs. There are classics still here on my shelf—unread. There are books that are still being written. While Handling the Truth contains my thoughts on nearly 100 memoirs, I want to continue the conversation here. Certainly, I won't include my thoughts on every memoir I have read or do read; I will only address those books that fulfill the many ambitions memoir must have for itself. But when I find a book that I love, a true memoir, I will list it here and link back to my original blog reflections.
Borrowed Finery, Paula Fox
The Suicide Index, Joan Wickersham
Woolgathering, Patti Smith
The Lover, Marguerite Duras
Messages from My Father, Calvin Trillin
The Same River Twice, Chris Offutt
Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan
Events:
May 22, 2013, 2 PMStrange and Familiar Places in YA Fiction (a panel)
Drexel University Week of Writing
Philadelphia, PA
Details here.
July 2, 2013
Philadelphia Literary Legacy Unveiling
Details here
July 18, 2013, 9 AM to NoonCoffee Klatch Leader
Philadelphia Business Journal
Third Annual Women's Conference
Crystal Tea Room
Wanamaker Building
Philadelphia, PA
July 27, 2013, 3:30 - 5:00 PM
Launching Small Damages paperback/Memoir Workshop
with Debbie Levy
Hooray for Books
Old Town Alexandria, VA
August 6, 2013
Launching Handling the Truth
with a memoir workshop
Free Library of Philadelphia
(details to come)
Philadelphia, PA
September 7, 2013, 10 AM - noon
BookPassage Memoir Workshop
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925
September 7, 2013, 3 PMBooks Inc. Memoir Workshop
Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness
San Francisco, CA
September 8, 2013
Redwood Writers Workshop
Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
September 22, 2013
Chestnut Hill Book Festival
Chestnut Hill, PA
(details to come)
October 3, 2013, 6 PM
University of Pennsylvania Bookstore
Memoir Workshop/Handling the Truth
Philadelphia, PA
(details to come)
October 20, 2013
Talking Memoir with Linda Joy Myers @
Rosemont College
Rosemont, PA
(details to come)
Press Release
212-366-2213
Truth is both an art and a privilege.
HANDLING THE TRUTH:
On The Writing of Memoir
by
Beth Kephart
Memoir is a deeply personal
undertaking—an art that inevitably enlightens and provokes. In a culture in
which more memoirs than ever are being written and more life story classes
taught, HANDLING THE TRUTH: On The
Writing of Memoir (Gotham Books Paperback Original, & eBook, August 2013) is
a timely take on a popular topic by a known writer.
Throughout its pages, Beth Kephart explores
the certain pleasures and hidden sorrows of memoir. As a five-time memoirist
and National Book Award finalist, she addresses the “big questions” confronting
writers. What is the language of the truth, and does truth matter? Do half-truths
count? What rights do memoirists have? Can you teach compassion? What is beauty, in memoir, and is there
room for it in a hurried world? Why do so many writers get memoir wrong, and
what does it take to get it right?
Finally, can writing memoir well shape how we remember and who we are?
HANDLING THE TRUTH provides a
framework for teachers, writers, and readers of memoir by one who has taught
memoir to students at all levels. Filled with definitions, classic examples,
proven exercises, and moral cautions, it also offers a robust appendix of
essential memoirs.
Though a prescriptive work, HANDLING THE TRUTH is also a
beautifully written one—a reflection of Kephart’s own experience as one who has
been both seduced and troubled by the form, and proof of her commitment to
considered, even lyrical, prose.
HANDLING
THE TRUTH: On the Writing of Memoir
Gotham Books Paperback Original |eBook | August
2013
@BethKephart
About the Author:
Beth
Kephart’s first memoir was a National
Book Award finalist and named best book of the year (1998) by several
publications. Picked to chair juries for both the National Book Awards and PEN
First Nonfiction Awards, she has reviewed and written for the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post,
Salon.com, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others. Chosen
as the 2013 Master Writing Teacher for the national YoungArts program, Kephart
has lectured and taught at universities, high schools, and venues across the country
for the last 15 years, and has mentored and taught at the University of
Pennsylvania since 2006. The
author of a corporate fairytale and an autobiography of a river as well as
eight acclaimed young adult novels, Kephart graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta
Kappa from Penn with a degree in the History and Sociology of Science and heads
a boutique communications business. She is at work on a new novel that takes
place in Florence, Italy, and blogs daily on literature and life at
www.beth-kephart.blogspot.com
About Gotham Books:
Gotham
Books, a nonfiction imprint of Penguin Group (USA), was launched in 2003 by
industry veteran William Shinker. Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is one of the
leading U.S. adult and children’s trade book publishers, owning a wide range of
imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, Gotham Books, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library,
Penguin, Penguin Press, Philomel, Riverhead Books, and Viking, among
others. Penguin Group is owned by Pearson plc, the international media
group.
Gotham Books is an imprint
of Penguin Group (USA)
Coming from Gotham (Penguin USA) in August 2013. For the story behind the story, go here.
Pre-order from any of these booksellers:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Books A Million
Indiebound
iTunes
