Below is a sampling of topics that Mimi Schwartz, a veteran teacher and presenter for 35 years, offers to libraries, writers’ conferences, Holocaust centers, university classrooms, synagogues, and teacher institutes. For more information, contact MimiSchwartz2@gmail.com
TALKS
Small Decencies--And do they Matter?
In a tiny Black Forest village, Christian and Jewish neighbors "all got along before Hitler." What happened to those relationships during and after Nazis times in the focus of Mimi Schwartz's talk and reading from Good Neighbors, Bad Times - Echoes of My Father's German Village, a winner of the 2008 ForeWord Book of the Year Award in Memoir.
Reentering History through Storytelling
The everyday lives of people are lost to history unless we gather the stories while we can. Using her reentry into Holocaust history through the memories of once-good German neighbors—both the Jews who fled her father’s village and the Christians who stayed—Mimi Schwartz reveals the way in which oral history can help us to understand what history books can’t tell us.
A Lesson from Kristallnacht
In 1938, a Torah was rescued on Kristallnacht in Germany—not by Jews but by their Christian neighbors. Who did it, why, and does it matter? These questions, at the heart of Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father’s German Village, provide a springboard for insight into the struggles for decency in climates of hate and violence—be it Nazi Germany, Bosnia, Rwanda, wherever—and what that means for us, as neighbors, today.
Book Club Talks
If you read Good Neighbors, Bad Times or Thoughts from a Queen-sized Bed and want to know more, author Mimi Schwartz is happy to answer questions—either face-to-face or electronically. Contact her at MimiSchwartz2@gmail.com.
Note: Discussion Questions are available under Writing Talk for Good Neighbors, Bad Times and for Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed.
WORKSHOPS
From Memory to Memoir
How do we turn fragments of memory into stories that others care about? This writing workshop focuses on the many ways to shape life experience into narratives that are both true and interesting. Includes hands-on activities for getting started, finding voice, using research, and revising, all based on Writing True, the Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction by Mimi Schwartz and Sondra Perl.
Writing Your Family History
Remember the time that…Did you know that Grandpa fought in….? This workshop is for those interested in writing down family stories so that others will want to read them. Using examples and caveats from her own quest into family history, Good Neighbors, Bad Times - Echoes of My Father's German Village, Schwartz addresses these questions: Where do I start? How do I use research and not sound impersonal? How do I shape fragments of information and memory into good stories?
Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction
We all have true stories to tell: about worlds we know well and new worlds we discover daily. This workshop shows how to capture both, using the power of voice, storytelling, memory, and grace of language to make nonfiction writing come alive. Using in-class exercises as springboards, participants explore strategies for turning fragments of memory and observation into memoir, personal essay, profiles, and narrative journalism.
Other Popular Lecture and Workshop Topics
 Memoir as History: the Next Generation Looks Back
Writing a Community Memoir
Using Research to Tell True and Interesting Stories
The Power of Creative Nonfiction
Finding Voice in Nonfiction Writing
The Art of Revision
Writing about Family: Tips and Caveats
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