THE SHAPE OF OUR LIVES: MEMOIR’S MANY FORMS

11:30 AM – 12:45 PM—Literary Discussion

THE SHAPE OF OUR LIVES: MEMOIR’S MANY FORMS

“Was this what I wanted, to fission myself into bits?” Michael Lowenthal writes in his memoir in essays, Place Envy. To understand our lives, we must sometimes explode them, putting each fragment under the microscope, or explore them through investigation or reportage. Joining Lowenthal in conversation are Joshua Wheeler, author of the radioactive essay collection Acid West, about his New Mexican homeland; Gaar Adams, whose Guest Privileges—half-memoir, half-reportage—tells the story of queer community, migration, and desire around the Persian Gulf; and Jordan LaHaye Fontenot, who investigates the 1983 murder of her great-grandfather in Home of the Happy. Gil Z. Hochberg, author of the memoir My Father, the Messiah, will moderate.

Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom. $10 or Lit Pass or VIP Pass.