The Art of Micro-Memoir: Imagine Writing Hummingbirds

Mississippi writer and poet Beth Ann Fennelly, author of the genre-bending Heating and Cooling, spoke at the nonfiction program’s residency in January 2023. She asked students to explore the art of micro-memoir. "What should we do when we can’t figure out how or where to start our story?" she asked. The answer? Start small. Precisely because they are so small, hummingbirds can do things other birds can’t do. In this episode of Hear-Tell, we delve into the art of writing short. You’ll hear Fennelly, Grady's new MFA program director, Moni Basu and two MFA students, Beth Burch and Colin Donohue read the micro-memoirs that evolved from a writing session led by Fennelly. In the second half of the show, Basu, who took over the program after the death of her best friend and former program director, Valerie Boyd, discusses how starting small can help us to think big.