Marshall Miles Interviews Laurie Lisle: Virtual Book Signing at Hotchkiss Library in Sharon for Her Memoir "Word for Word: A Writer’s Life"

May 18 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Virtual Event

Join us for the hometown book launch of Sharon’s own Laurie Lisle’s memoir, Word for Word: A Writer’s Life.  Lisle will discuss her determination to become a published author, from her early days in journalism to writing her groundbreaking biographies of legendary artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Nevelson.  In this frank memoir, Lisle asks what a writer – or anyone devoted to self-expression in the arts – needs to flourish and find fulfillment in work and life.  How do the private and professional parts of a writer’s life intertwine?  Lisle has also written books on women without children, educating girls, and gardening in Sharon.  We hope you will Zoom in to this virtual event to learn what it is like to live as a writer in Sharon.

This online event is free, but registration is required.  You will be emailed the link upon registration.  Signed copies of Word for Word are available for preorder.  As always, donations are appreciated, to support the Library’s programs and services.

BookLife says that Word for Word “pulses with intellectual discussions, lived feminist history and its resultant tensions, and the fascinating literary milieu Laurie Lisle encounters at writing retreats…She’s admirably frank about her inner world of vacillation and offers compelling insights and anecdotes of a writing life. This unconventional memoir details one accomplished woman writer’s dedication to developing her voice. It’s great for fans of Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments, Rebecca Solnit’s Recollections of My Nonexistence.” 

 “In fluid, evocative prose, Laurie Lisle turns her biographer’s eye on her own life with a clear-eyed, honest gaze that probes, delights, and illuminates.”  

~ Jennifer Browdy, author of The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir

“Laurie Lisle courageously dramatizes her struggles to become a writer and to find a loving relationship that nourishes her and her talent. Her beautifully written memoir will inspire writers and women everywhere to find their voices.”  

~ Lynn Povich, author of The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace

“Lisle draws on extensive personal archives and her training as a journalist to recount a career shaped by second-wave feminism. With references to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Virginia Woolf, and Betty Friedan, the author ties her life to literature, finding guidance and solidarity in the work of women writers…[readers] will enjoy the frank discussion of her successes and disappointments pursuing a ‘writer’s life.'” ~ Library Journal