S:6 E:19 Write Your Own True Stories with Sue William Silverman, Author of Acetylene Torch Songs

Books That Make You Find the Spark for Your True Story

Writing a memoir involves far more than just listing your life experiences in order. It requires addressing a significant and poignant section of life, and delivering a story that caters more to the reader than to you.

At times, writers—from the aspiring to veterans—need to find a spark to pursue the complicated work of self-exploration. Sue William Silverman’s Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul offers that spark for memoirists seeking mentor-based instruction and inspiration.

An award-winning author of eight works of nonfiction and poetry, Sue’s previous book, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences, won the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature, and a gold star in Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year Award.

Sue’s other works include Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction, adapted into a Lifetime TV movie; Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, winner of the AWP Award; and The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew. She is faculty co-chair at Vermont College of Fine Arts, in the MFA writing program.

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