Madison librarian Nancy Sabbe will present the final noon brown-bag lunch session at the Smith-Zimmermann Museum on Thursday.
The latest series of brown-bag talks has had some connection to memoir writing. While Sabbe is not a writer, she hopes to provide some pointers for the audience on what draws her into a good personal story.
"I'm going to offer some hints if they are doing memoir writing," she said. "I always find it more interesting if I can pinpoint a date or event or something I know."
Sabbe said that date or special event provides a hook that she can relate to in her reading.
"Even in historical fiction, it's based on some facts," she said.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Sabbe has been a librarian since 1978. Although not a writer, she said, she's open to reading anything.
"Some of the best reading I enjoy is a memoir or biography," she said. "I really love to read about people."
To present her point, Sabbe hopes to share part of a story she's reading called "Nothing Daunted" by Dorothy Wickenden, which is about two women who answer an advertisement for teachers in rural Colorado. It takes place on the frontier around 1916.
"I think it's a wonderful example of the kinds of things you can do," she said.
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