Lara Lillibridge is a returning attendee and second-time speaker. We’re excited to welcome her back to HippoCamp: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction Writers where, this year, she’s teaming up with another past speaker to show us how to be funny in our nonfiction.
HM: Tell us a little about your involvement in HippoCamp this year. What are you most excited to share during your panel?
LL: When I first starting writing memoir, I wrote this wonderful, honest, gut-wrenching story for a summer workshop. The leader said to me, “You need to do something to keep your readers from wanting to kill themselves after reading this. No one can handle a book this dark.” It wasn’t exactly the feedback I was looking for, but I have learned that we need light to balance the darkness—even if it’s just a sliver. I think humor is essential and often overlooked in memoir writing. I adore Amy Fish, and her presentation was one of my favorites from my first year at HippoCamp (2016) so I hunted her down at HippoCamp 2017 and asked her to lead a presentation with me this year.
Why do you love true stories?
I think all true stories are stories of redemption or of overcoming. They give me hope.
What made you decide to participate in HippoCamp this year as a speaker? If you’re a returning speaker, how did your past experiences encourage to want to come back?
I am not a professor, teacher, lecturer, or even someone who speaks in front of large groups regularly as part of my job. I find HippoCamp to be the least intimidating of all the writers conferences I’ve attended. Last year I did my first conference presentation ever, and I felt as it the participants were engaged, well-informed, and also actively cheering each other on, not tearing each other down. I found my previous HippoCamp experiences to be so enlightening and inspiring that I hope to give something back to the community.
Share a fun fact with us—something attendees may be surprised to know:
In my family of origin, my brother is the funny one. As funny as I think I am, he was always funnier by far. I think being around funny people helps train our brains to think more humorously.
Aside from preparing for HippoCamp 2018 (of course!), what are you working on? Any recent or upcoming projects/publications you can share?
My project closest to publication an anthology of women’s writing I co-edited called Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility, due out in 2019 with Cynren Press. I’m polishing my second memoir, Mama, Mama, Only Mama: A Guidebook for the Newly Single Parent, and just finished a first draft of a MG/YA book that is still untitled.
Since you’ll also be attending the conference, what are you most looking forward to learning or doing when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat?”
I’m super excited about Amy Eaton’s session about live readings, called GETTING YOUR WORDS IN THE AIR and Rebecca Fish Ewan’s DOODLING FOR WORDIES. I also can’t wait for Joey Garcia’s PITCH YOURSELF AS A GUEST ON TV NEWS OR RADIO SHOWS.
We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. If you live here or have been here before, what would you recommend to other attendees?
I didn’t go to the wonderful market across the street from the conference until my second year. I thought it was all produce and raw meat, but it has all sorts of wonderful things to buy. Last year I got a large collection of weird gummy creatures for my kids there.
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
As I wrote this, my sedentary, lazy/despondent cat just leapt six feet in the air to get a closer look at a bird on the other side of the sliding glass door. It seems like a sign: HippoCamp18—the year of the cats reaching new heights.
Lara, we love that new slogan. We’ll take it!
Register to reserve your place at HippoCamp today.
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