Writing and Talking about Memoir: “Little Brother,” a Conversation with Sallie Bingham

From the introduction, by Laura Micham

“Welcome and thank you so much for joining us for this exciting event, “Writing and Talking about Memoir: Little Brother.” My name is Laura Micham and I’m the director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University. I’m facilitating the program today along with my colleague, Bingham Center librarian, Kelly Wooten…

It is now my great pleasure to introduce writer, teacher, feminist activist, and generous and visionary philanthropist, Sallie Bingham.

About her life as a writer Ms. Bingham has said “I’d been writing since I, literally, could write: terrifying ghost stories my first grade class was persuaded to perform; sentimental poems, sent to my father overseas in World War Two; short stories that began to win prizes by the time I was in high school; the Dana Reed Prize at Harvard for best undergraduate writing (the first time it was given to a woman); and a request from editor Ann Barrett at Houghton Mifflin to see a novel.”

In 1961, not long after Bingham graduated from college, Houghton Mifflin published that novel. It was followed by seven more novels, five collections of short stories, three collections of poetry, numerous plays, and an assemblage of short stories, a novella, and a play, published in 2020 by Sarabande Books entitled Treason: A Sallie Bingham Reader. Bingham has also published four works of nonfiction including the book we’re here to celebrate today: Little Brother: A Memoir just published last month by Sarabande Books.

Readers familiar with Sallie Bingham’s 1989 memoir, Passion and Prejudice, will remember her provocative chronicle of the Bingham family saga, cited by Gloria Steinem as a “major step toward feminist change and democracy.” In Little Brother, she reflects on just one of her siblings: her youngest brother, Jonathan, a deeply sensitive person who suffered from insecurity, isolation, and difficulty relating to his large family. Bingham draws from archival material including the young man’s journal and letters. As in each of her previous memoirs, in addition to bringing these documents to life, she offers critical historical context and makes vital connections across generations to create an intimate portrait of her complex family.

Award winning author and artist, Joan Brooks Baker responded to Little Brother saying, “Brava, Sallie Bingham, for an intimate and courageous portrait of the complexities of her family in all its pose, love, and need for emotional distractions. This compelling personal story is set against the backdrop of decades of world history, and in part, reflects the American character, its values, and thus the consequences. I was totally immersed.”

Bingham’s writings have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, New Letters, Plainswoman, Plainsong, Greensboro Review, Negative Capability, The Connecticut Review, and Southwest Review, among others, and have been anthologized in many collections such as Best American Short Stories, Forty Best Stories from Mademoiselle, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and The Harvard Advocate Centennial Anthology.

In addition, she has worked as an editor and critic in a number of organizations including as a book editor for The Louisville Courier-Journal; as a guest editor at Mademoiselle a few years after Sylvia Plath held that post; and as a director of the National Book Critics Circle. As a part of her long and profound commitment to enhancing and documenting women’s lives, Bingham co-founded Women’s Project and Productions, the nation’s oldest and largest company dedicated to producing and promoting theater created by women; the Kentucky Foundation for Women, an organization that promotes positive social change by supporting varied feminist expression in the arts, and, of course, the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture here at Duke University.

Describing her oeuvre, Publisher’s Weekly observed in 2011 that “Bingham’s work remains sharp and deliciously unsettling, ripe for discovery by a new generation of readers.” Little Brother certainly bears this out! Please join me in welcoming Sallie Bingham.”