This class will discuss the difference between diary and memoir writing, how to find and use details to enliven memoir, writing thematically and not strictly chronologically, and various ways of making memoir absorbing and fascinating to readers.
If participants would like to purchase any of my books, I will have them available and do a book signing following the event.
Bio
Jill Kandel’s essays have been published in The Missouri Review, Gettysburg Review, Pinch, and Brevity. Her work has been anthologized in Best Spiritual Writing 2012 (Penguin Books) and in Becoming: What Makes a Woman (U. of Nebraska Press). Her first book, So Many Africas: Six Years in a Zambian Village, (Autumn House Press, 2015) won both the Autumn House Nonfiction Prize and the Sarton Women’s Literary Award. Her second book, The Clean Daughter: A Cross-Continental Memoir, (NDSU Press, 2022) was chosen by the Library of Congress as a 2024 Great Reads Book.
Kandel teaches memoir writing at the Fargo Fine Arts Club, guest lectures for NDSU Writing Classes and hosts a weekly writing club. She enjoys both writing and teaching the craft of memoir.
Brought to you by the Institute of Museums and Library Services and sponsored by the North Dakota State Library and the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library.
