[an error occurred while processing this directive]
www.storycircle.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Peggy Moody
conference@storycircle.org

The Story Circle Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women explore and record their life stories, is holding its second national women's memoir conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Austin TX, February 6-8, 2004.

The three-day conference, "Stories from the Heart II," features twenty-four program sessions offered by presenters from around the country. They will speak on a wide variety of topics of interest to women memoirists and life-writers, including the creation of family-legacy stories, personal narrative techniques, self-publishing, interviewing, journaling, memoir and fiction, mother-daughter stories, and art as a medium for personal story. An open-mike evening will give participants an opportunity to perform their stories.

Keynote speaker Liz Carpenter, is a sixth generation Texan, a writer of several best-selling books, and a journalist who reported on Presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy. She served as press secretary, staff director, and speech writer during the Johnson administration. Ms. Carpenter lives in Austin.

Sunday's lunch speaker is Wilhelmina Delco, who has devoted more than three decades to public service: serving on the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees, ten terms in the Texas Legislature (serving on more than 20 committees, and acting as Speaker Pro Tempore). Ms. Delco chairs the national boards of The United States Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and the Compact for Faculty Diversity. Delco is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Susan Wittig Albert, Story Circle founder and best-selling author, will be featured at Conference Welcome session on Friday afternoon.

The conference program and registration information is available on-line, at www.storycircle.org/Conference. A brochure may be requested by phone, at 512-454-9833.

Speaking about the significance of the conference, the only one of its kind anywhere, Dr. Albert says, "In the last ten years, personal narrative has been increasingly recognized as an important literary form, with hundreds of new memoirs and autobiographies being published each year. As more and more people become interested in genealogy, they have begun to understand that family story is an important legacy and that women are often the family’s story-keepers. And psychologists note, as well, the importance of journaling and personal narrative as a tool for improving mental and physical health. We hope that our conference will encourage women to develop and explore their personal stories."

The Story Circle Network is a national association of women, with members in 44 states and four foreign countries. It publishes a quarterly journal and sponsors a wide variety of educational programs through its Austin and Internet chapters. Its main office is in Austin, TX.

Contact us:

• Via email: conference@storycircle.org

  OR

• Via "snail mail":

  [an error occurred while processing this directive]

  OR

• Via phone: [an error occurred while processing this directive]

For more information: www.storycircle.org/Conference