In Retrospect: The Art of the Memoir

How does a life get translated onto the page? Delve into the construction of the personal narrative with a discussion group and writing workshop dedicated to the memoir. Each month, meetings will focus on a different example of memoir, exploring the motivations and techniques behind some of the genre’s most notable works. For those aspiring to tell their own story, sessions will also offer the opportunity to participate in writing exercises and to workshop original material in a constructive, collaborative setting.

This month we're discussing First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung.

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.