Is it possible to be objective when writing about your own family members? What do you leave in? What do you leave out? And how will your family react? How do you even know their stories are worth telling? We’ll be talking with three authors who have written – or are currently writing – the stories of family members.

Sarah Birnbach recently began her “encore career” as a writer and author. This newest post-retirement career follows a 10-year career in banking, 7 years as a family therapist in a juvenile court, and 34 years as a human resource management consultant and entrepreneur. Along the way Sarah received her credential as a Certified Journal Therapist and Certified Journal Facilitator in 2011 from the Center for Journal Therapy, the premier center for teaching others to use the power of writing to heal, grow and change. Sarah holds an M.B.A. in Human Resources from the American University and an M.S.W. from the University of Maryland and has previously held licenses as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Sarah has won numerous writing awards including: the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, the Women’s National Book Association, Bethesda Magazine, Talking Writing, and other literary journals. Her articles have appeared in Talking Writing, Bookwoman, and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance Journal. She has just completed her memoir, A Daughter’s Final Gift: A Year of Devotion and Healing which follows her journey through the first year following her father’s death. Her blog, Combatting Racism, can be found on her website at www.sarahbirnbach.com.

Michelle Y. Green is an award-winning author of historical fiction and biography for children:  A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and the Willie Pearl book and doll series. A feature film about Mamie is in the works called Throw Like a Girl. She has spoken twice at The Library of Congress Young Readers Center. In conjunction with the Baseball Americana exhibit, she did an author talk on A Strong Right Arm. She also joined local authors in reading from the library’s rare books collection in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Children’s Book Week. She has a Master of Arts in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and now is pursuing an advanced degree there in the Teaching of Writing. She has worked as an adjunct professor of English at Prince George’s Community College and The George Washington University. She is a proud Air Force Brat whose father was a Tuskegee Airman. Her work in progress is a young adult novel: The Devil’s Bargain, a story told in three voices about Vietnam.  Her blog -- Laughter is Medicine – and podcasts can be found at www.michelleygreen.com

Leslie A. Sussan was born and raised in Manhattan, and now lives in Silver Spring, MD, with her daughter Kendra and their cat, Neko-chan.  She attended Bryn Mawr College and Georgetown Law and has had a long career as a public service lawyer.  She currently serves as an administrative appellate judge in the federal government.  Her father, also a born and bred New Yorker, served in a film crew for the Strategic Bombing Survey that recorded the only color footage of the aftermath of the atomic bombings in Japan.  He focused on filming the human impact and tried for decades to persuade the government to release the footage to educate the American people.  After his death, Leslie and her daughter followed his footsteps to Japan and living in Hiroshima in 1987-88.  She interviewed many survivors, some who remembered her father filming them.  Unexpectedly, in the process, she came to really know her father for the first time.

Telling True Tales: Writing About Family