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Memorable autobiographies, experiences told through the eyes and words of the author, are powerful evocations not just of a person, but a time and place, vividly transporting us inside the world of another to experience life as they did.
Documentary filmmaker and writer Sara Lukinson looks at three remarkable lives filled with joys, hopes, war, exile, family, and the complexities of the human heart. Each writer recounts lost worlds and the unexpected lives of their youth: a colorful family in Egypt; ill-fated liberal Russian aristocrats; and, writing from the trenches of World War I, a soldier-poet tells of war from the ground level.
Each session includes readings from the featured work and archival film clips and stills.
Lukinson, whose films have received three Emmys and seven Writer’s Guild Awards, teaches at NYU and the 92nd Street Y. Her personal essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.
Session Information
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
This book is often referred to as one of the most beautifully written memoirs of our time—or any other. It recalls lost worlds and new lives as memories conjured like film images floating across the page. The book begins with Nabokov’s wealthy, progressive Russian youth, an escape to war-torn Europe, and the ship that will bring him to America.
Additional Sessions
If you are interested in additional In Their Own Words sessions, see below:
Patron Information
- If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.
- Unless otherwise noted, registration for streaming programs typically closes two hours prior to the start time on the date of the program.
- Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
- Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
- View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.
