Awards

• Winner of Carolyn W. Field Honor Book 2013 (United States)
• Winner of Gold Medal 2020 (United States)
• Winner of Motivational Category 2013 (United States)
• Winner of PEW Fellowships in the Arts 2005 (United States)

Overview

Beth Kephart is a writing teacher and the award-winning author of more than thirty books; her many fans and students will embrace this intimate and beautiful memoir in essays The author's books on how to write memoir as well as previous memoirs have built a strong platform for Wife | Daughter | Self Eleven of the chapters have been published in major literary journals, increasing visibility and organic shares of the material This memoir in essays will appeal to fans of Ross Gay's The Book of Delights, Margaret Renkl's Late Migrations, and Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am Writers will find inspiration, craft notes, and information about the writer's life, similar to Alexander Chee's How to Write an Autobiographical Novel and Anne Lamott's classic Bird by Bird. At a time when reading tastes are skewing to joy and escapism, this tale of a writer in her marriage to her Salvadoran artist-husband, her role as a daughter to her widowed father, and her ultimate recognition of her responsibility to herself, is wise, kind, and beautiful, a later-in-life coming of age Those in search of books about real-life successful marriages, such as Ann Patchett's This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, will enjoy Wife | Daughter | SelfThe section on Beth Kephart's father will resonate with all who are caring for elderly parents, wanting to do their best, and worrying that it isn't enough Fans of the Wyeths will appreciate the essay on Henriette Wyeth for its insights, historical accuracy, and the author's deep personal connection to her life Memoirs in essays are often marketed as memoir; this one is being called out as a memoir in essays to increase its possibilities in the classroom and course work

Full Product Details

9781942436447

Table of Contents

Reviews

A profound meditation on how our most cherished-and most complicated-relationships shape who we are. Kephart's work is a masterclass in memoir. -Megan Stielstra, The Wrong Way to Save Your Life Kephart's Wife | Daughter | Self passes the whole of a life through the prism of intimate relations and the result is revelatory: a memoir that assembles itself as we read, until all its parts are shimmering with meaning and that most sought, most elusive treasure is revealed: what it means to be human, and aware. -Carolyn Forche, What You Have Heard is True Wife | Daughter | Self is a riveting, atmospheric dream of a book. It's a big, complicated portrait of a woman inhabiting the major roles of her life. Sometimes we encounter Beth Kephart's 'tip-toe self,' artfully and gracefully telling her story. Other times she's out there-bold, making noise, 'piercing the truth.' But she never settles for the easy answer. She's really just asking bone-deep, tough questions. Questions that turn everything back to her readers so that we can learn how to inhabit our own roles. This memoir is so revelatory, so affecting, that long after you turn the last page, you won't stop thinking about it. -Judy Kurtz Goldman, author of Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap Rare and brave and beautifully written, Wife | Daughter | Self is a memoir to savor. Beth Kephart is a jeweler: her words glisten, the emotions shine. This story of marriage, daughterhood, and motherhood, is also the story of an artist-how a woman becomes a writer and how she enters into conversation with the world. This moving work will linger with readers long after the final page. -Diana Abu-Jaber, author of The Language of Baklava She believes in acute, clear-eyed attention to the small moments. Her stories are bare, stripped down, whittled to their very essence, like one of her husband's dark, pragmatic vessels. To her father, she says, 'I am here. Are you there?' In each line of prose she poses the question to us and we answer, yes, we are. We are here. -Jacinda Barrett, actress and writer Opening Beth Kephart's memoir feels akin to stepping into a river of striking clarity and song. With tenacious honesty, Wife | Daughter | Self explores the weight and shape of the ever-deepening bonds we form with those closest to us and how those bonds intertwine with our perceptions of our innermost selves. This book is a journey into a life dedicated to writing and art, one that honors both joy and pain, love and loss. Piercing, lyrical, and wondrously alive with detail, Kephart's sentences sing. I didn't want it to end. -Chloe Honum, author of Then Winter Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir A marvelous primer for anyone who would dare to face the furies and write about his or her life. Beth Kephart has read the genre closely, put her own feet to the fire, and distilled the form with all the passion of a great teacher. -Marie Arana, author of American Chica A gorgeous meditation on memoir. -Library Journal, starred review With infectious passion and hard-won wisdom, Beth Kephart eloquently celebrates the rigors and rewards of the creative process and-equally necessary-the art of crafting a meaningful life. -Katrina Kenison, author of Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment A self-described 'memoir autodidact' and distinguished author's refreshingly idiosyncratic guide to the art of creative nonfiction. -Kirkus, starred review Intense, provocative, endearing, and kind, Handling the Truth recalls Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (1995). The appendix alone is a reading course not to be missed. Delightful. -Colleen Mondor, Booklist Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River Kephart is a master not only of descriptive memory, but of constructing an existential vocabulary. Thus the river is born, becomes aware, is besieged, comes to terms with abuse, half-wishes to be abandoned, and nearly loses hope. -Nathaniel Popkin, City Paper Additional Praise Beth Kephart . . . is a gifted, even poetic writer. -The New York Times Book Review Kephart's writing is so clear, so nonpreachy, that you just want to jump in and join her. -Los Angeles Times Book Review Richly evocative prose that can only be called masterful . . . a revelation and a feast. -Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog Writing as brilliantly as she does about love might have been enough even for someone of her intelligence and depth. But in this memoir she demonstrates that she can go further. Kephart is able to generalize from her personal experience to the greater human one. -Wendy Gimble, Washington Post

Wife - Daughter - Self is a riveting, atmospheric dream of a book. It's a big, complicated portrait of a woman inhabiting the major roles of her life. Sometimes we encounter Beth Kephart's 'tip-toe self, ' artfully and gracefully telling her story. Other times she's out there--bold, making noise, 'piercing the truth.' But she never settles for the easy answer. She's really just asking bone-deep, tough questions. Questions that turn everything back to her readers so that we can learn how to inhabit our own roles. This memoir is so revelatory, so affecting, that long after you turn the last page, you won't stop thinking about it. --Judy Kurtz Goldman, author of Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir A marvelous primer for anyone who would dare to face the furies and write about his or her life. Beth Kephart has read the genre closely, put her own feet to the fire, and distilled the form with all the passion of a great teacher. --Marie Arana, author of American Chica A gorgeous meditation on memoir. --Library Journal, starred review With infectious passion and hard-won wisdom, Beth Kephart eloquently celebrates the rigors and rewards of the creative process and--equally necessary--the art of crafting a meaningful life. --Katrina Kenison, author of Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment A self-described 'memoir autodidact' and distinguished author's refreshingly idiosyncratic guide to the art of creative nonfiction. --Kirkus, starred review Intense, provocative, endearing, and kind, Handling the Truth recalls Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (1995). The appendix alone is a reading course not to be missed. Delightful. --Colleen Mondor, Booklist Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River Kephart is a master not only of descriptive memory, but of constructing an existential vocabulary. Thus the river is born, becomes aware, is besieged, comes to terms with abuse, half-wishes to be abandoned, and nearly loses hope. --Nathaniel Popkin, City Paper Additional Praise Beth Kephart . . . is a gifted, even poetic writer. --The New York Times Book Review Kephart's writing is so clear, so nonpreachy, that you just want to jump in and join her. --Los Angeles Times Book Review Richly evocative prose that can only be called masterful . . . a revelation and a feast. --Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog Writing as brilliantly as she does about love might have been enough even for someone of her intelligence and depth. But in this memoir she demonstrates that she can go further. Kephart is able to generalize from her personal experience to the greater human one. --Wendy Gimble, Washington Post

Author Information

Beth Kephart is a National Book Award finalist, a Pew fellowship winner, an NEA grant winner, and the multi-genre author of more than thirty books that often appear on “best of” lists. She is an award-winning teacher at the University of Pennsylvania, co-founder of Juncture Workshops, and a widely published essayist and critic who has written extensively about memoir and traveled the country giving workshops. Essays have appeared in Ninth Letter, the New York Times, The Normal School, North American Review online, Salon, Catapult, Literary Hub, Creative Nonfiction, The Millions, Brevity, The Rumpus, and the Chicago Tribune. Her essay “Set Pearls in the Dark” is a Notable Essay of 2019 (Best American Essays 2020). Beth and her husband, artist William Sulit, collaborate on picture books, middle grade novels, Juncture Workshops, and a series of memoir workbooks and illustrated journals. William Sulit is a Salvadoran-born, Yale-educated architect and visual artist. He has collaborated with his wife, Beth Kephart, on multiple book projects, including the middle-grade novels Wild Blues, Cloud Hopper, and Dr. Radway’s Sarsparilla Resolvent; the memoir Ghosts in the Garden; the corporate fable, Zenobia: The Curious Book of Business; a series of memoir workbooks; and the picture book Trini’s Big Leap. He is the co-founder, with Beth, of Juncture Workshops. Find him on Instagram at ws_studioarts.

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