The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok
New York Times and Globe and Mail best-selling book The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok is a breathtaking literary memoir about the complex meaning of love, truth, and the capacity for forgiveness among family. Through stunning prose and original art created by the author in tandem with the text, The Memory Palace explores the connections between mother and daughter that cannot be broken no matter how much exists – or is lost – between them. A 2012 ALA Notable Book and winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.
One of my favorite quotes, which I keep pinned to my bulletin board above my desk, is from the AROHO retreat I went to the year I was a finalist for the Gift of Freedom award. The quote is by Virginia Woolf: To let oneself be carried on passively is unthinkable. I think that quote is at the heart of AROHO. AROHO reminds women that they not only have the ability to make great literature but that they possess the creative power to also affect change in the world.
–Mira Bartok
