Six-Word Memoirs
Project and book series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Six-Word Memoirs is a project and book series created by the U.S. based online storytelling magazine Smith Magazine.
| |
Website type | Online magazine |
|---|---|
| Editors | Larry Smith, Rachel Fershleiser |
| Website | sixwordmemoirs |
| Launched | 2006 |
History
In November 2006, Smith's editors Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser asked Smith readers to tell their life story in just six words, taking inspiration from a six word short story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”, popularly misattributed to novelist Ernest Hemingway.[1][2] Smith readers submitted their memoirs via www.smithmag.net and Smith's Twitter account. In early 2007, Smith signed with Harper Perennial to create the Six-Word Memoir book series.
Six-Word Memoirs books
The first in Smith's Six-Word Memoirs book series, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure was released in early 2008.[3] It collected almost 1,000 memoirs, including contributions from celebrities such as Richard Ford, Deepak Chopra, and Moby. It was a New York Times bestseller, featured in many stories in The New Yorker, and was highlighted on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation.[4][5][6]
In early 2009, Smith released a follow-up, Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak, containing hundreds of personal stories about romance.[7] Another follow-up was released in late 2009; I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure dealt with the experiences of teenage life and as such was written by and for teens.[8] The most recent in the series, It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, was released in early 2010 and was marketed as the general sequel to Not Quite What I Was Planning.[9]
Recognition
- Not Quite What I Was Planning was listed as a New York Times bestseller in 2008 in the "advice, how to and miscellaneous" category.[4]
- In April 2009, The Denver Post listed Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak as the 5th bestselling non-fiction paperback in the Denver area according to sales at the Tattered Cover Book Store, Barnes & Noble in Greenwood Village, the Boulder Book Store, and Borders Books in Lone Tree.[10]
Community impact
The Six-Word Memoir format has been used as a writing exercise by teachers, with examples ranging from second-grade classrooms to graduate schools; furthermore, HarperCollins created a guide to encourage the format as an instructional tool.[11][12][13] Six-Word Memoirs have seen use in hospital wards, appeared in a eulogy, and suggested as a form of prayer by a preacher in North Carolina.[14] Six-Word Memoir videos from individuals ranging from teenager Micah Gray to bestselling author Daniel Handler have been posted to YouTube.[15][16] 6 Words Minneapolis, a public art project, employed the format to build community and empathy among citizens of Minneapolis.[17]