How can we make our family folklore feel alive in our writing when we weren’t present for these events and only know sparse details? How can we convince readers to follow us anywhere, even when we’re not sure of where we’ve been? This session will explore these questions through reading, writing, and conversation. First, we will look at a scene from Jeannine Ouellette's memoir The Part That Burns that revisits an event in Ouellette’s family history that occurred when she was a baby. We will discuss how she pieces together the fragmented information that has been passed down to her and fills in the gaps with meticulous imagined detail and exquisite imagery. Then we will spend substantial time on a writing prompt that will inspire attendees to fill in the gaps of their own family folklore, and hopefully share the results of this work.

Samantha Paige Rosen is a queer writer, teacher, and tutor. Her nonfiction and fiction has appeared in Electric Literature, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, Post Road, The Rupture, and elsewhere. She earned an MFA in creative nonfiction from Sarah Lawrence College and a BA in film studies and government from Smith College. She lives outside of Philadelphia and has three cats who are her children. Say hello at samanthapaigerosen.com or on Twitter @samanthaprosen.