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Questions and Family Stories Writers Workshop

A NEA Big Read event with Sandy Spring Museum

Join local author Vonetta Young for the "Questions & Family Stories" workshop, part of NEA Big Read with Sandy Spring Museum.

Join local author Vonetta Young for the "Questions & Family Stories" workshop, part of NEA Big Read with Sandy Spring Museum. We’ll discuss how to uncover and preserve the richness of our family histories. We’ll explore effective strategies for eliciting family stories from our elders who are still with us, and how to unearth stories from the past if we don't have living ancestors to inquire of. Then, we’ll end with how to craft a narrative from what we’ve found.

We’ll start by talking about techniques for crafting thoughtful questions to ask living family members, focusing on how to encourage detailed recollections from long ago. Then we’ll dive deep into how we recreate stories of those who are no longer living and the questions that we ask ourselves along the journey. We’ll discuss methods for researching family histories through archives and records, using examples from the Sandy Spring Museum archives, and some best practices for how to organize and interpret this information to build a narrative. Finally, we’ll address how to weave our findings into a meaningful and engaging story, for publication or personal and family lore. We’ll also have some free writing time to get you started.

By the end of the session, you’ll be equipped with the tools to both discover and narrate your family’s unique history and have the beginnings of your own written narrative.

This workshop is best for ages 15 and up. 

Registration is required for this program.

This program is a part of NEA Big Read with Sandy Spring Museum.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.  

Sandy Spring Museum is participating in the NEA Big Read in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Libraries, Olive Branch Community Church, and MoCo Underground Writers Showcase.

Questions about this program? Contact the Wheaton Library at: 240-777-0678

Looking for more fun things to do at MCPL? 

Check out the library's website to see what you can do with a library card. Don't have a card right now?  No worries!  Find out how to Get a Library Card.

Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

cm 1.1 01/03/2023

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