Overview
Creative nonfiction writers wrestle constantly with the boundaries of creative license—what to reveal, when to reveal it, and how best to do it. While the truth may inspire us to make confident assertions, secrets, lies, and half-truths inspire us to delve further into our own writing to discover the heart of the story. The pieces in this collection feature essayists who do this type of detective work. Each essay contains a secret, lie, or half-truth—some of these are revealed by the author, but others remain buried. Ranging from the deep family secret to the little white lie, from the shocking to the humorous, and from the straightforward revelation to the slanted half-truth, these essays ask us to appreciate the magnitude of keeping a secret. They also ask us to consider the obstacles writers must overcome if they want to write about secrets in their own lives and the lives of others. In short interviews following each essay the contributors discuss craft, ethics, creativity, and how they eventually decided to reveal—or not reveal—a secret.
Full Product Details
Author: Jen Hirt , Tina Mitchell
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Imprint: Michigan State University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.272kg
ISBN: 9781611862478
ISBN 10: 1611862477
Pages: 211
Publication Date: 01 June 2017
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print 
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Table of Contents
Contents Introduction Maybe It Happened, by Jo Ann Beard Interview with Jo Ann Beard My Father’s Secrets, by Ron Tanner Interview with Ron Tanner Secret Machine, by Brenda Miller Interview with Brenda Miller Not Less Than 1,000 Bottles for Horseradish, by Jen Hirt Interview with Jen Hirt Okay Forever, by Barrett Swanson Interview with Barrett Swanson Three Takes on a Jump, by Jill Christman Interview with Jill Christman The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison Interview with Jamison Changing the Subject, by Amy E. Robillard Interview with Robillard S-Turns, by Jon Pineda Interview with Pineda Experiments in Living Chemistry, by Kelly Kathleen Ferguson Interview with Ferguson Dog Psychology, by Tina Mitchell Interview with Mitchell Invisible Nails, by Samuel Autman Interview with Autman White Lies, by Erin Murphy Interview with Murphy Reading History to My Mother, by Robin Hemley Interview with Hemley Leaving Duck Creek, by Mary Clearman Blew Interview with Blew On Lying, by Sarah Gorham Interview with Gorham Contributors’ Notes Acknowledgments
Reviews
<i>Kept Secret</i> is an engaging collection of essays about what we reveal and when we reveal it, how we shape and are shaped by our memories, and the varied ways we all tell true stories about ourselves and others. All grapple with the full truth of halftruths in ways that make a reader think and feel more deeply. The short interviews that follow each essay offer additional insights as well as the writer's intentions; together, they create a kaleidoscopic and yet transparent view of how nonfiction works whenit works really well. <b>Anna Leahy, </b> coauthor of <i>Generation Space: A Love Story</i> and author of <i>Tumor</i>
Author Information
Jen Hirt is an Assistant Professor at Penn State Harrisburg. She is the author of the memoir Under Glass: The Girl with a Thousand Christmas Trees and coeditor of Creating Nonfiction: Twenty Essays and Interviews with the Writers. Tina Mitchell is an Adjunct Instructor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is the founder of The Turnip Truck(s), an evolving graphic landscape for essayists, artists, and theorists interested in the dialectics of the human and its environments.
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