Boston Book Festival 2018

Self-identity is defined by an ever-evolving set of factors, including family, culture, affiliation, our experiences, and our choices. The three riveting memoirs considered here look deeply at personal identity formed in the context of history, biology, and culture. In Growing Up with the Country, described in a Library Journal starred review as a “masterpiece in the areas of personal narration, family genealogy, and African American historiography,” Kendra Field interweaves stories of her own family’s westward migration after emancipation with black, white, and Native histories. Sisonke Msimang was born in exile in Zambia to parents fighting for a free South Africa, then moved to Kenya and Canada, to Kenya again, and ultimately settled in Australia, each move bringing a new sense of otherness. Her memoir, Always Another Country, called “eloquent and affecting” by Kirkus, explores her struggle to create a viable self-identity. Catherine Guthrie discusses a different kind of journey to the unknown. As a young, queer woman, she had unique challenges when it came to feeling secure in her identity. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer she thought that as a women’s health journalist with knowledge of her specific cancer, she could handle it. In Flat, Guthrie describes just how wrong she was. Join this fascinating trio’s conversation about identity, led by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning memoir The Fact of a Body.