The Stories We Tell: Reclaiming Identity through Memoir & Personal Essay | Thomas Beller, Beth Ann Fennelly + David Weill, MD Moderated by: Jedidiah Jenkins

Thomas Beller, Beth Ann Fennelly, and physician-writer David Weill, MD join moderator Jedidiah Jenkins to explore memoir and personal essay writing as an act of reclaiming identity through observation and reflection. Drawing on decades of writing across literature, poetry, and medicine, and reflecting on their own deeply personal work, the panelists discuss how the act of narrative reconstruction allows a writer to unify a lifetime’s worth of selves and to own identity. The New Orleans Book Festival brings the world’s leading authors to Tulane University for a multi-day celebration of their works. The Festival features both fiction and non-fiction and convenes readings, panel discussions, symposia and keynote speeches. It provides an opportunity for outlets, authors and readers to interact with each other in one of the most vibrant and culturally diverse cities in the world.