Sarah Saffian's guest appearances

Sarah Saffian

The Writing University Podcast

Adoption Talk by Spence-Chapin

Elizabeth McCracken

Lauren Haldeman

Dora Malech

Mark Leidner

Emily Pettit

Mary Allen

Eric Goodman

Sandra Scofield

David Hamilton

Michael Morse

Anjali Sachdeva

Katie Ford

Elizabeth Robinson

Jessica Handler

Bianca Stone

OwlTail

On today's episode, Director of Pre- and Post- Adoption Services and therapist at Spence-Chapin, Christine Tangel, speaks with Sarah Saffian, fellow therapist and also memoirist and adoptee, about her memoir, Ithaka, her therapeutic writing workshops for members of the adoption constellation, and the role that personal disclosure and adoption-competent therapy has meant in her personal life and in her practice. Let's get started.

<p>On today's episode, Director of Pre- and Post- Adoption Services and therapist at Spence-Chapin, Christine Tangel, speaks with <a href="http://saffian.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sarah Saffian</a>, fellow therapist and also memoirist and adoptee, about her memoir, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ithaka-Daughters-Memoir-Being-Found/dp/0385334516" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Ithaka</em></a>, her therapeutic writing workshops for members of the adoption constellation, and the role that personal disclosure and adoption-competent therapy has meant in her personal life and in her practice. Let's get started.</p>

Episode 16: Sarah Saffian on being a Memoirist, Psychotherapist and Adoptee

Please, Just Don’t Call It Journaling: Writing for Self Versus Others w/ Sarah Saffian

Episode 82: Please, Just Don’t Call It Journaling: Writing for Self Versus Others w/ Sarah Saffian

A novelist has it easy—his characters, sprung from his imagination, don’t talk back when they’re not happy with the way they’re depicted on the page. But what if your character is your ex-husband, your twin brother, your mother? Are familial loyalty and literary integrity necessarily at odds? How can we most effectively navigate this touchy terrain, to maintain our real-life relationships without compromising the stories we need to tell? In this lecture/ discussion, we’ll grapple with such prickly issues as: the possibility of multiple “truths”; altering identifying characteristics; inviting loved ones into your writing process (or not); the pros and cons of allowing relatives to read your manuscript, and how much to revise per their comments, if at all; determining if what could hurt others truly advances the story. Whether you’re in the midst of a memoir project or are just contemplating one and scared off by this very conflict, let’s explore forms of expression that we can stand behind both as authors and as brothers/ daughters/friends.

Episode 58: Sarah Saffian -- The Politics of Writing About Loved Ones  