Lisa Cooper Ellison is a four-time HippoCamp attendee, and this will be her second year presenting. She’s also a heck of a literary citizen and writing coach who shares wisdom throughout the year in various venues! Thanks to Lisa for participating in our Q&A!
Tell us a little about your involvement this year at HippoCamp — for instance, if you’re running a break-out session or workshop, what can attendees expect? If you’re on a panel with others, what are you most excited to share? If you’re involved in more than one thing, you can talk about all of them!
This year, I’m running a breakout session titled “Creating a Birds-Eye View of Your Book: The Chapter Summary Project.” During this session, I’ll teach a method for understanding and strengthening your manuscript’s narrative arc. This will be followed by several ways you can use it for your projects or to communicate more effectively with other writers. It’s something I’ve been perfecting for the past four years. I use it regularly with students learning how to identify narrative arcs and clients looking for budget-friendly reviews of their books. I’ve even taught these strategies to a few writing groups who wanted to workshop memoir concepts and provide targeted feedback for chapters in the middle of their books.
Our motto is “memorable creative nonfiction.” Tell us about one of the more recent memoirs, essay collections, or individual essays you’ve read and why it was memorable. If it’s online, share a link!
This is such a difficult question! I read so many great books. Recently, I was captivated by Jeannine Ouellette’s The Part that Burns. Jeannine writes elegantly about traumatic experiences. So many of her sentences read like poetry.
I’m also a huge fan of The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang. Esmé’s gripping personal experience keeps you hooked while she teaches you about a misunderstood disease and its impact on the lives of the people living with it.
An essay that choked me up was “She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box” by Genevieve Kingston. All I can say is read the essay. It’s magnificent.
I also loved Melanie Brook’s essay “The Surprising Comfort of an Unsent Father’s Day Card.” It’s filled with so much love and resilience.
“The Impossible Ideals of the ‘Writer’s Life’” by Tabitha Blankenbiller was a real gut punch. She’s so open and vulnerable about the trials and tribulations she’s faced during her writing career and honestly shares what ultimately gave her a sense of meaning and purpose.
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 you to want to come back?
This is my fourth HippoCamp and my second as a speaker. HippoCamp is one of my favorite creative nonfiction conferences. By the end of my first meet-and-greet, the conference felt home. It didn’t matter if you were a newbie or a veteran writer, you were welcome and treated like an equal. After learning so much at that conference, I knew I wanted to become a presenter. Presenting is my way of giving back to the community that’s given me so much. And it’s fun to present when everyone is so eager to learn. People ask so many great questions.
What’s going to keep you busy between now and HippoCamp?
This is a jam-packed summer. I feel like I’m making up for everything I missed during 2020. Work with clients and on my writing projects keeps me pretty busy. But in June, I took time off to see my family for the first time since the pandemic began. It was so great to see them. During the week of 7/16, I’m presenting several sessions at the 2021 Compassionate Friends conference so I can be of service to grieving families. After that trip, I’m heading to the beach so I can relax a little before gearing up for HippoCamp.
Since you’ll also be attending the conference, when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat,” what are you most looking forward to learning or doing?
As a HippoCamp alumnus, I can’t wait to see the friends I’ve made at past conferences and to meet new ones. As Rae Pagliarulo said, “there will be so many hugs.” Or socially distanced bows, depending on everyone’s comfort level.
I can’t wait to hear the debut readers share their stories. I’ve been reading the books written by this year’s cohort for the past few months.
And I love that there’s going to be a Writer’s Bridge Live. How cool!
This year’s conference includes so many great sessions, it’s going to be difficult to choose. Here are just a few of the sessions I’m looking forward to:
• What happens to Your Book Inside a Newsroom with Joey Garcia
• Creative Mapping: A Tool to Help You Build a Solid Draft with Kate Meadows
• Unleashing your Hardest Truths and Most Striking Images through Constraint, Juxtaposition, and Play with Jeannine Ouellette
We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. If you live here or have been here before, what would you recommend to other attendees?
The conference tends to dominate my time in Lancaster, but I’ve enjoyed several restaurants, like the Kebab Station. It’s also nice to walk through the nearby farmer’s market. And if you’re just looking for a quick break, cross the street and check out the colorful Keys for the City piano. You never know who might play you a tune.
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Thank you so much for sharing with us, Lisa!
To learn more about HippoCamp: A Conference for Creative Nonfiction Writers and see our full list of speakers and sessions, visit the official conference website.
