Learning About Ourselves

“I write to answer questions.”  This statement by Mississippi native Norma Watkins described most of the writers I heard as a participant at the 19^th annual Oxford Conference for the Book in March. This enjoyable free three-day event was packed with interesting panel discussions, author meet-and-greets and social activities for the literati – both visiting and local.  I was able to fit in only three panel discussions on Saturday morning, but in just under three hours I heard from nine writers and one literacy advocate.

I was most inspired by the three writers at the panel on writing memoir. Norma Watkins, author of The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure, said her book started as a journal, then turned into a novel and was finally published by The University Press of Mississippi in 2011 as a memoir. She urged writers to “tell your stories” because “you are the memory keepers.” Watkins, who teaches creative writing in California, told writers to make a list of the times in your life when things changed. And then to show, not tell, what happened at each of those times. She encouraged writers by explaining that if you write a page a day, you could have a book in a year. 

Memoirs are a piece of an author’s life and writer Randy Fertel shared his family background in The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir. Fertel said he found it therapeutic to re-tell his stories as he was seeking to understand his colorful father. Fertel’s mother was the founder and owner of Ruth Chris Steak House and his father was a wealthy New Orleanian who once ran for mayor on a promise to bring a gorilla to Audubon Zoo. Their son tells their story and his in this funny and honest book, also published by The University Press of Mississippi. The next speaker, Sam Haskell, said you must understand yourself before you can write your memoir.  His memoir, Promises I Made My Mother, is about growing up in Mississippi and is a tribute to his deceased mother. Haskell, a former Hollywood agent, sold his memoir idea before he even wrote the book.  The act of writing forced him to face many truths about himself and answer questions he had not previously asked.

The Oxford Conference for the Book was a gem of an event and I hope to return each year to be inspired by readers, writers and publishers in one of the most charming towns in America.