Writing a Memoir, Writing a Biography | Write Your Memoir

I heard memoirist Pearl Sofaer speak recently. Pearl was born and grew up in Bombay, India, of  a Baghdadi Jewish family. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay, California, area. Pearl is author of the memoir/cookbook, Baghdad to Bombay: In the Kitchens of My Cousins (Paper Jam Publishing, 2008; $18). The book includes traditional Jewish recipes from Iraq and India. Pearl interviewed her extended family to collect the recipes in the book, which include: Iraqi Borscht, Fish Curry, Baghdadi Jewish Chicken Soup, and Luzina, to name a few. Pearl told stories about what the traditional Baghdadi Jewish community was like in the first half of the 20^th century, and what it was like to grow up in Bombay. At the end of her presentation, Pearl sang traditional songs using Middle Eastern Jewish (Mizrahi) melodies, which sounded so exotic to our western ears. Her CD is Gems of Mizrahi Liturgy.

 Are musical memoirs next? Downloadable mp3 memoirs? M-memoirs?

At the Self-Publishing Book Expo I attended recently in New York, I met three women whose memoirs successfully tackle these potentially overpowering topics:

1. leaving your country of origin;
2. growing up in a faraway land;
3. being raped or sexually abused.

Past experiences such as these may seem too big to write about comfortably. But perspective changes everything. Check out these three memoirs and how each woman’s viewpoint has shaped her storytelling.

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