Search

Loading...

Winner 2012 Canada-Japan Literary Award
Now available as an e-book! To access on kindle, click here and on kobo, click here.
"An engrossing and charming memoir about getting back to basics: home truths, family, and the life-altering, life-saving power of books."
-Emma Donoghue, author of Room
"The Reading List brims with frankness, provocative wit and acute insights into our hearts and psyches."
-Kerri Sakamoto, author of The Electrical Field
"I’ve read a lot of good memoirs, but it’s a rare talent that can weave together so many threads – family, love, literature, career angst – so effortlessly as Leslie does in The Reading List."
-Micah Toub, author of Growing Up Jung

Followers

My Reading List

My Blog List

Powered by Blogger.

BlogCatalog

Books Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

When My Mother Was My Age

6:22 PM | Posted by Leslie Shimotakahara | | Edit Post

When my mom found out I'm writing a memoir about my relationship with my dad, she was very supportive - partly, I think, because she was relieved I wasn't putting our relationship under the microscope.  But the truth is that I've always found my mother a deeply fascinating woman, and I'm hoping in a future literary work to use her as a source of literary inspiration.  Thus when I found out that Jane Friedman of Writers Digest was hosting a mother-daughter interview series at her blog, called "When My Mother Was My Age," I jumped at the chance to participate.  It seemed like a great opportunity to get to know my mom in a role other than "mother" and at the same time, stash research notes for the future.  As it turns out, she suffered from similar sources of turbulence in her life at my age.  My interview with my mom and my reflections can be read at Jane's blog.
Labels: , ,

2 comments:

Mimi said...

Where was the picture of you and your Mom taken? Liked the mother-daughter blog by Jane Friedman - great idea!

December 10, 2010 at 6:53 AM
Leslie Shimotakahara said...

The photo of us was taken on Maracas Beach in Trinidad. Maracas Beach is a rugged beach with a wild undertow that attracted a lot of surfers(someone later told me that on average one person drowned per day). I was once almost swept out while playing in the sand - but fortunately, my mother caught me and I was okay, aside from a face full of sand!

December 10, 2010 at 10:58 AM
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

About Me

My Photo
Toronto, ON, Canada
Leslie Shimotakahara is a writer and recovering academic, who wanted to be simply a writer from before the time she could read. Hard-pressed to answer her parents’ question of how she would support herself as a writer, Leslie got drawn into the labyrinthine study of literature, completing her B.A. in Honours English from McGill in 2000, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Modern American Literature from Brown in 2006. After graduation, she taught English at St. Francis Xavier University for two years. Leslie woke up one morning and realized that she’d had enough of the Ivory Tower. The fact that she wasn’t doing what she wanted to do with her life loomed over her, and the realization was startling. It was time to stop studying and passively observing life and do something real instead. She needed to discover herself and tell her own story. This blog and the book she has written under the same title (Variety Crossing Press, spring 2012) are her foray. Last year, Leslie was selected as an Emerging Writer in Diaspora Dialogues and read at The Word On The Street. Her writing has been published in TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, and GENRE.

Blogger Template created with Artisteer.