Author Description

To Write the Past is a guide for those with a yen to record their lives. Like a sturdy companion, the book is designed to hearten and embolden those who pick it up to set their memories and musings on the page. Tucked within are nine essays that address the key and burning questions that ever-perplex the memoirist. Sara Mansfield Taber is the author of two memoirs sprung from her upbringing as the daughter of a Cold War spy: Born Under an Assumed Name and Black Water and Tulips. She has also published Chance Particulars: A Writer's Field Notebook, two books of literary journalism, Dusk on the Campo and Bread of Three Rivers, and numerous personal essay, travel, and opinion pieces. A psychologist and social worker, she has taught memoir-writing in universities, literary centers, and independent workshops for the last three decades. Known for both her in-depth knowledge of the writer's craft and the generous support she gives to writers, she has midwifed hundreds of memoirs into being.