Issue 54 / Winter 2015
54 / Lost Truths & Family Legends
The stories we hear, the tales we tell
Issue #54 is full of family lore–the stories we grow up hearing and the tales we, in turn, tell. Like the night we hit the deer, or Dad’s close encounter with a serial killer, or the time Grandma saved the village from the Germans … Every family has at least one story like this–but is it true? (And, if it’s a good enough story, does it matter whether it’s true?)
Plus, we explore the special challenges of writing about family; writers travel in search of missing stories; and Rick Bragg reflects on the process of interviewing living legend Jerry Lee Lewis.
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What’s the Story #54
Writing true stories that reflect what you think and see and remember can be rife with personal hazardsWrite What You Don’t Know
What happens when facts, for any number of reasons, simply aren't available?Providing the Mortar
An interview with memoirist and biographer Rick BraggGone
A father's very detailed instructions for his estate prove impossible to followThe Archivist
The gatekeeper of Portland's history remembers everythingList Maker
A mild-mannered, middle-aged father's narrow escape from a famous serial killerThe Hart’s Long Life
He hit a deer on the road late at night. What happened next will amaze youPicking Up BBs
A toddler and his father find treasure on a make-believe battlefieldFive Bathrooms and an Outhouse
Snapshots from the author's ongoing search for a quiet place to thinkSensualiterature
The scratching and hammering and tapping of writingWhen Your Co-Author Is Missing
A niece recounts her search for a lost aunt and reflects on the books and documentary films that helped her understand how to write with an absent co-authorOne of Many
Maggie Mertens, struggling to fit her very large family into a memoir, is surprised to learn how many well-regarded memoirists also come from large families, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from their storiesVisiting the Past
A daughter travels to the rural Indian village where her father grew up and uses her skills as a trial lawyer to build a complete picture of her father's pastAnonymous
What happens when we go namelessThe Way to a Reader’s Heart…
Essential memoirs of family meals