Fellow Minnesota author Terrance Newby interviews Amy on her memoir, Tiny Altars. This is the second of three episodes in which we explore writing about real people and events in fiction (Terry) vs. creative nonfiction (Amy).
From Amy: Terry Newby and I met in the spring of 2023 and found resonance between our writing that led us to trade books. We wanted to explore what it was to write about real people related to us, Terry in historical fiction and plays, me in creative nonfiction, specifically memoir. This is the second of three episodes that resulted from that conversation. While Terry writes about real people using fiction to convey larger truths, he wondered what it's like when the people I write about are real people, and my contract with a reader of creative nonfiction says that anything I write about has to have happened. The very fact that I'm writing about any events or relationship already tells you that everything wasn't simply perfect. (Because... boring.) How we treat real people in writing is a question I regularly navigate with writers. Terry and I talk about how I navigate that in my work.
Terrance C. Newby is an attorney, novelist, and playwright based in St. Paul, Minnesota. His plays The Cage, The Body Politic, Reunion Forever, and The Piano Teacher have been professionally staged in Twin Cities theaters.
Terry's novel, Dangerfield's Promise, was published in April 2022, and has received five-star reviews from the Seattle Book Review, Manhattan Book Review, Chicago Book Review, and the Midwest Book Review, among others. Terry is currently working on a sequel to Dangerfield's Promise.
Terry has two upcoming plays being staged. See you there?
Little Rock 1942: The true story of a civil rights lawsuit that brought Thurgood Marshall to St. Paul, and led to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision
October 3 & 4, 7 pm | October 5, 2 pm, 2024. Landmark Center, St. Paul, MN.
https://www.landmarkcenter.org/history-play/
Our Dearest Friends (the second play of the night)
Thu, Nov 21, 2024 7:00 PM Sun, Nov 24, 2024 2:00 PM. The Hive Collaborative, St. Paul, MN.
https://www.thehivecollaborativemn.com/events/a-woman-over-forty