Apr 19, 2012 | Hiroshima in the Morning, The Writing Life
Once our stories leave us, they have a life of their own. Your story will touch many lives: give voice to some who may have felt voiceless, and remind others that they are not alone. The best part is when the storyteller herself is given the gift of hearing from others and discovering the community that has always existed around her.
Recently, I had the privilege of seeing one example of how my own memoir has journeyed: from 2001 Hiroshima to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On her blog, Michelle Embree writes about reading Hiroshima in the Morning:
I could feel [Reiko’s book] taking shape inside of myself, it was taking me to a place of greater strength and understanding for writing my own memoir (which is currently half complete and in a perpetual state of change and discovery). I was reading and writing and taking deep breaths and starting over again and again with the belief that I can, in fact, write this book, tell my story, find words for it all, find a reason to be who I have become.
I invite you to read her story here.
Mar 12, 2012 | Events, Hiroshima in the Morning, The Writing Life
We talked about reinvention, and revision. About a different ending, and about how sometimes, when you don’t know who this voice in your head is, all you have to do is ask. We discussed picking a cold place for a story, going to Paris, and passing: passing up, passing for, passing through. We did some math: What is love plus freedom in your book, and what does love minus freedom equal?
We had a wonderful day in Baltimore, Bernice McFadden, Jacqueline Luckett, Leila Cobo, Linda Duggins and I. It was an encounter made possible in part by Joy Bramble, publisher of the Baltimore Times whose earlier chance encounter with Linda Duggins began with “My feet were killing me…”. Many thanks to the Enoch Pratt Library, Judy Cooper, and everyone who supported the event, who came, who asked questions.
At one point, an audience member got up and gave us an amazing gift. She had read every book, and she told us what she learned from each one and the reasons why she will never be the same person as she was before she read them. Thank you, Ella Curry, for your words.
Love plus freedom: math I never had to do in school.
What does love plus freedom mean to you?
Mar 10, 2012 | Events, Hiroshima in the Morning, The Writing Life
The DC Examiner wraps up a series on all the International Women’s History Month panelists today with a short article on me. If you can’t make it, check out the series to see what you are missing. Thank you, Wendy Coakley-Thompson!
Rizzuto is passionate about the power and cultural significance of storytelling in general and women’s stories in particular. “Storytelling – as humans but especially as women – is our way to build consensus and community, and the more truthful we are when we stand up and say ‘This is who I am, this is what I believe, or what I did,’ the stronger and more beautiful that community will be,” she declares.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Rahna Reiko Rizzuto prescribes storytelling as an antidote to historical silence – Washington DC Publishing Industry | Examiner.com
Feb 28, 2012 | Events, Hiroshima in the Morning, The Writing Life
At our last residency for the Goddard MFA in Creative Writing in Vermont, we had three amazing and successful alumni return to talk to our current students. Mary Johnson, author of An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life, spoke with Kenny Fries and me about the pitfalls and pleasures of crafting a resonant, universal story from our daily “here’s what happened next” life. We spoke for over a hour, and I am pleased to be able to share it with you here.
Here’s a sample from the beginning:
My question (one of many!) to Mary: “There are those things we are afraid of…that we don’t want to relive. Could you talk about what you left out of your memoir, and why, and how you got what you did onto the page?”
Mary: “Fear was a big thing for me…putting it down on the page for anybody to see was really scary. Kenny was my advisor for my first two semesters at Goddard. I had written a few things… During one particular packet, I started to write the sex stuff. And it was really hard for me. I wrote this piece and I sent it off, and when I came back from the post office, I wrote Kenny an email and said, ‘I just sent my packet to you, please don’t open it. I will send you another one.’ And he wrote me back and said, ‘Oh! So at last you have finally written something worthwhile!’”
2012.01.11 Transformation From Personal Experience to Published Memoir from Goddard College on Vimeo.
Feb 8, 2012 | Events, Hiroshima in the Morning, The Writing Life
Looking forward to a March 10th discussion in Baltimore on “the intersection of place, time and culture in literature and in the lives of women” with four amazing women:
Leila Cobo, a Fulbright scholar from Cali, Colombia, novelist, pianist, TV host, and executive editor for Latin content and programming for Billboard. She is considered one of the country’s leading experts on Latin music. She is the author of Tell Me Something True. Her second novel, The Second Time We Met (Grand Central Publishing), will be released February 29, 2012. (www.leilacobo.com)
Jacqueline Luckett, author of Searching for Tina Turner and the newly published Passing Love (Grand Central Publishing). She participated in the Voices of Our Nations (VONA) writing workshops and, in 2004, formed the Finish Party along with seven other women writers-of-color. (www.jacquelineluckett.com)
Bernice L. McFadden, author of seven critically acclaimed novels, including Sugar and Glorious. She is a two-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist. In her new novel, Gathering of Waters (Akashic Books), McFadden brings her own vision to the story of Emmett Till and the town of Money, Mississippi. (www.bernicemcfadden.com).
Linda A. Duggins, moderator from the Hachette Book Group.
More details here
Jan 19, 2012 | Hiroshima in the Morning, Motherhood in the Media, Our Nuclear Age, The Writing Life
Appearing in Sixers Review today, a brief conversation with Goddard MFA graduate, Shokry Eldaly, who will someday be a literary marvel himself when he gets that half-finished novel done. Here is a sneak peek:
“Are you asking what you do when you are asked to conform? You don’t. It’s very simple. Why would you? Why would any person ever think that another person, or a structure (like publishing, or banking!), or a cultural assumption, knows what you need and who you are better than you do? You are the expert on you, and you have an urgency in your own preoccupations that is important for the rest of us to hear about. Otherwise, you become a bad copy of a character that someone else has made up.”
Read the entire interview and take a look at the journal here.
