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SMSU Reading from Memoir, "My Mother Is Now Earth," by Mark Anthony Rolo, Minnesota Book Award Finalist

1/28/2013

Mark Anthony Rolo, author of the remarkable memoir My Mother Is Now Earth, will read at Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, Minn., as part of the Visiting Writers Series on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 in Charter Hall 201 at 7 p.m. The reading is free and open to the public.

Rolo's book was named a finalist for the 2013 Minnesota Book Awards in the category of memoir and creative nonfiction. After the reading, you may purchase Rolo's book and have it signed. Please join us for an amazing evening.

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Telling your family story

10/17/2011

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Have you ever thought about exploring your family history some day? How did your parents meet? What is your grandparents' story? What about some of those well-kept family secrets?

Mark Whitaker, the former editor of Newsweek and Washington bureau chief for NBC News, is CNN's managing editor and the author of a new book My Long Trip Home: A family memoir.

Here's a review from Better World Books:
"After an astonishing early career as a groundbreaking black scholar of Africa, his father spiraled into an alcoholic descent that resulted in the abandonment of his French wife and their two children—an issue that impacted Whitaker greatly and one he explores in-depth. It is this event that sets the scene for the memoir, as Whitaker and his family struggle to overcome that rejection.

"My Long Trip Home is in many ways a coming of age story, told with a reporter’s attention to detail and, remarkably, without prejudice. Only once his father has passed does Mark fully learn to accept his parents for who they are and come to terms with his rough childhood. I love stories of family relationships, and this one does not disappoint. Whitaker explores the ways his past continues to impact his present, contrasting his depressed and impoverished upbringing with the sophisticated lifestyle he became a part of as an adult. My Long Trip Home is a reporter’s search to identify himself amid a complex family, and the emotional burden that is lifted once he learns the truth about his past."

Whitaker published an article today, "Reporting your family story: A user guide" that gives some of the lessons he learned in writing his memoir:

Don't take "I don't remember" for an answer.
Look for every written document you can find.
Explore the surrounding history.

Whether or not you are obsessed enough to write a book as Whitaker did, what family stories do you have to tell? Who will tell them if you don't?

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SMSU Reading from Memoir, "My Mother Is Now Earth," by Mark Anthony Rolo, Minnesota Book Award Finalist

Telling your family story

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SMSU Reading from Memoir, "My Mother Is Now Earth," by Mark Anthony Rolo, Minnesota Book Award Finalist

Telling your family story

Author

Archives

BlogrollArts BeatA Year of Being HereBearded VeganBecky's BlogBetter World BooksBirth Breasts and BeyondCarrie EtterChristine Stewart-NunezDana YostHeroic Yes! ProductionsJames A. ZarzanaLanding on Cloudy WaterNicole HelgetNo Ideas But in ThingsStory GuruThe Marsco SagaWrite Right

Categories

Blogroll
Arts Beat
A Year of Being Here
Bearded Vegan
Becky's Blog
Better World Books
Birth Breasts and Beyond
Carrie Etter
Christine Stewart-Nunez
Dana Yost
Heroic Yes! Productions
James A. Zarzana
Landing on Cloudy Water
Nicole Helget
No Ideas But in Things
Story Guru
The Marsco Saga
Write Right