Event Description
For our May Westside Satellite, we bring back a popular guest, personal essayist and memoirist Sue William Silverman. The author’s newest book, Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul, was published in January. It is a rich and very helpful resource.
In the first half of the program, satellite host Robin Quinn will interview Silverman about how she developed as a memoirist and personal essayist, and the inspirations and development of her previous essay collections. In the second half, the author will cover select topics from the new book to enrich and deepen your writing of true-life stories. She will also do a related short reading.
Silverman’s presentation will include:
- Techniques for accessing and developing memories for storytelling, including music, locations, and other sensory details
- Using details from memories to access other memories
- Reflecting on and speculating about your memories
- Invigorating memories through metaphor
- Approaching topics that haunt you
- Addressing controversial or disturbing topics
- The importance of confessional writing as resistance
Whether you write personal essays, longer forms such as memoirs, or other true-life material, this program will add to your writer’s toolbox for fiery writing.
There will be opportunities during the program for attendees to submit questions through the chat and at registration. Be prepared to work on a writing prompt near the end of the program. Some participants will also be able to volunteer to share what they wrote. A drawing for three copies of Acetylene Torch Songs and three of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences will be conducted at the end of the session.
Sue William Silverman
Guest Speaker: Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry. Her most recent book is Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul. Her previous book, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, won the gold star in Foreword Reviews INDIE Book of the Year Award, and the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature. Other works include Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, made into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, which won the AWP Award; and The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew. She is co-chair of the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Robin Quinn, Host
Host, IWOSC Westside Satellite, Robin Quinn – A long-time IWOSC member and Los Angeles book coach and editor, Robin’s editorial projects include the solo woman play Re-Inventing Me, by Esther Pearlman (featured in SoloFest 2023), actress Julie Newmar’s forthcoming autobiography, and Jason W. Park, PhD’s memoir, Bliss + Blues = Bipolar. Robin’s other areas include self-help, health, and spirituality, such as the just-released title, Enlivening Consciousness, by Elisa Beth Haransky-Beck, OD. In December 2020, she won an Irwin Award for the Best Media Kit on Mark Kingston Levin’s 30th Century sci-fi trilogy.
