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All families have stories some members don’t want told. Memoirists often struggle with the ethical complexity of telling those stories—with writing about relatives, particularly when their narratives pertain to emotionally-charged conflicts; the revelation of family secrets; contested shared histories; or stories involving such subjects as abuse, trauma, addiction, mental illness pertaining to family members. Panelists will discuss the hard choices they face and the questions they must ask themselves when writing about family:
Who owns a story? Who has the right to publish shared experiences?
What do we owe to the people we write about?
What’s our motivation: can we clearly distinguish the need to tell our truth versus writing out of vindictiveness or revenge?
Is consent or review necessary or desirable?
What are the potential repercussions of telling fraught family stories?
How can we mitigate the risk of negative consequences and protect ourselves and the people we write about?
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Book & Puppet Co., Book and Puppet Co., 161 Northampton St, Easton, PA 18042, United States
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