Memoir “matters” to Beth Kephart; memoir done right--experience and truth, shaped by insight into art--is her passion, and this book makes that abundantly clear to both those who want to write memoir and those who just want to read it. Instructive but never pedantic, it’s meant to make you better at both. And she leaves no doubt that writers of memoir must be readers of memoir. HANDLING THE TRUTH abounds with excerpts and examples, and features a generous (50-page!), well-curated list of recommended further reading in both the art and craft of memoir writing.

One thing that Kephart clarifies early on in HANDLING THE TRUTH is that memoir is a distinct literary form from both fiction and autobiography, although it draws on the facts of the latter and often shapes them with the forms and devices of the former. Thanks to her establishing this distinction so well, I will refer to my preferred guilty-pleasure reading as “celebrity autobiography” from now on, unless it’s clear that the personal story the celebrity has written really is memoir--and I should be able to tell the difference better now.

HANDLING THE TRUTH is a practical guide to reading and writing memoir. It breaks down the various elements of the form, and offers illustrations and exercises drawn from the classroom. At the same time, it’s a memoir of Beth Kephart’s own experience with the writing, reading, and teaching of memoir...and the book accomplishes both missions without being overly self-referential or meta. It’s a celebration, examination, and defense of the form. It’s honest and direct about where and how it can go wrong, and why that makes it so important to get it right.

READ MORE: http://www.3rsblog.com/2013/08/book-talk-handling-truth-by-beth-kephart.html ( )

This past weekend I was blessed to be able to spend some time with Beth Kephart, a most talented writer with a beautiful heart and a yearning to teach what she knows about the writing of memoir. The workshop Beth taught at The Book Passage (a wonderful independent bookstore in Corte Madera, California in Marin County), was exactly what I thought it would be – interactive, introspective, brimming with wisdom and the chance to play with words and memories. For a long time I longed to take a class from Beth – and so this workshop was a dream fulfilled for me.

Beth traveled to California to promote her newest book – Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir. For those of you who have read and loved other books on writing (Stephen King’s On Writing and Annie Lamott’s Bird By Bird spring to mind), Beth’s work is not to be missed. She was inspired by her students at the University of Pennsylvania who thrill her with their writing and sensitivity, who embolden not only themselves, but their teacher who has the privilege of teaching them.

Audacity was the wrong word; you see that now. The word, in fact, is privilege. Teaching, after all these years, is the marrow in your bones. Truth is your obsession. – from Handling the Truth -

Don’t be fooled by the slimness of this book – it is thick with knowledge and shared wisdom, plump with book recommendations, and fat with the kind of observations which I have come to expect from Beth Kephart’s writing. She starts by telling the writer what memoir is not – amongst others it is NOT: “A trumped-up, fantastical idea of what an interesting life might have been, if only. A web of lies. A smudge. A mockery of reality. There is a separate (even equal) category for such things. It goes by the name of fiction.” – and then shows us what IS memoir. Through a series of chapters which include color, tense, smell, empathy, grief, landscape…and much, much more…Beth Kephart teaches the interested writer how to create real memoir – not self-absorbed autobiography, but something larger. Something that makes a difference.

What readers want is meaning. They want a story so rich, complex, thought through, and learned from that it can’t, in fact, be revealed by a headline or two; it can’t be satisfactorily summarized. Readers want to be able to participate. They want to discover, with the writer, those images at the edge of the frame, or over to the side, or just a tad blurred that have, as it turns out, something rich to say. Something powerful and universal. - from Handling the Truth -

Maybe you don’t want to write a memoir, so you think this book is not for you. But I encourage you to read it anyway, because within its pages are truths, “aha” moments, and beautiful writing. And if you only read it to get to the appendix of book recommendations – that is also worth your time. The research for this book was huge. Beth culls her formidable list of titles she read down to the best – many of which I have read and loved myself.

It was hot in Marin this past weekend – the day was heavy with sunshine, thick with an intense heat that had people rushing into shade – but sitting in the air conditioned environment of The Book Passage, the day fell away behind me. We were a small group, each of us there for different reasons and at different points in our writing abilities. We sniffed spices, shared photos, and scribbled down bits of memory and detail in short bursts of time. We shared. And we listened. We had the opportunity to get a glimpse into a writer’s soul and her passion, and reap the reward of doing so. It is not an experience I will soon forget.

Many thanks to Beth Kephart – to her willingness to share herself so completely with others, to fly through the dark, starry nights in order to touch the lives of her readers, and for her beautiful words of which I never tire of reading. You are a treasure. And so is your latest book – Handling the Truth.

And for the readers of my humble blog, I will give you a rating of the book, just because you have grown accustomed to that. It is a 5 star read on every level. Don’t wait. Go get yourself a copy.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of Handling the Truth from author Beth Kephart with whom I have the immense pleasure of sharing a special friendship. ( )

The best teachers are those that give of themselves freely to their students and their craft, and with reference books available on various ways to write, what to write, and when to write, many will glance at yet another writing reference and dismiss it out of hand. What does that mean? That those people are fools — for Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart, released today, is not a reference, it is a memoir about writing memoir (marking a 6th memoir from her). It is a reference guide written from the perspective of a teacher and writer on how to approach a genre riddled with scandal and debunked by naysayers. Not only does she peel back the layers that can and should be part of memoir creation, but she also peels back her own experiences and perspective to shed light on the hard work memoirists should expect of themselves.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2013/08/handling-the-truth-by-beth-kephart.html ( )