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Memoir: A Generous Sharing

The memoir genre has often been criticized as self-indulgent, narcissistic, navel-gazing. But memoir has a long and important history in the literary fabric of our culture. In this talk, Maureen Stanton will give a brief history of memoir, and discuss its value as testimony and witness narrative, as well as the connection that memoir writers have with readers. She'll share her newly released memoir, The Murmur of Everything Moving, and talk about the pleasures, and sometimes perils, of writing in this intimate literary genre.

Maureen Stanton has been writing, reading, teaching and publishing memoir for over two decades. Her memoir, The Murmur of Everything Moving, won the Donald Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence. Her coming-of-age memoir, Body Leaping Backward: Memoir of a Delinquent Girlhood, won a Maine Literary Award and was a People Magazine "Best New Books" pick. Her first book, Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: An Insider's Look at the World of Flea Markets, Antiques, and Collecting, won a Massachusetts Book Award, and was a Parade Magazine "12 Great Summer Books" selection. Her essays have been widely published and received Pushcart Prizes, the Iowa Review award, and the Sewanee Review award, and she has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony. She is a professor of creative writing at UMass Lowell. www.maureenstantonwriter.com