Speaker: Karen Inkster Vance
Family history is more than names and dates; it’s finding, preserving, and sharing the personal stories that go along with each person on your family tree.
During this interactive workshop we will learn how to write compelling stories that your family will want to read, practice creative non-fiction storytelling techniques, and discuss ways to start sharing your family stories with short writing projects now.
Karen Inkster Vance, MA, is an educator, family storyteller, researcher and writer who has enjoyed documenting her family history for over 30 years. She is the author of Voices from the Past: A History of North Roe (2006), a social history of the village in Shetland, Scotland where her great-grandfather was born. She conducted over 150 oral history interviews as part of the Ex-Cadet Oral History Project at Royal Roads University and oversaw the writing and production of two documentary films, Coming Full Circle: Remembrances of Royal Roads Ex-Cadets (2009) and Ingrained in Us: Remembering Royal Roads (2013), both of which aired on local television.
Karen has discovered that true joy comes not from just filling in the names and dates on her family tree but from piecing together the lives that her ancestors led. Gathering social history clues, analyzing photos and oral history interviewing are just a few of the creative approaches Karen uses to bring her ancestors to life. She is on a mission to write down and share her ancestors’ stories and help other family historians do the same.
Karen resides in Surrey, BC, Canada. For further information about Karen and her current projects, visit:
KarenInksterVance.com .