Title:  Why Our Stories Matter

Thatcher Freund, a journalist and memoir writer, will talk about the importance of stories in our lives both to ourselves and to the work we do in researching our family histories, and why it matters so much that we preserve them.

Thatcher is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in History, and the Columbia School of Journalism, and was born and raised in Austin.  His published work includes The Python Trail, the story of an immigrant’s journey from Cameroon to America, and Objects of Desire: The Lives of Antiques and Those Who Pursue Them, which follows the lives of three pieces of American furniture from their creations in the 18th century to their sales at Sotheby’s 250 years later.

Besides his speaking engagements, Thatcher helps people to write their own memoirs and teaches workshops on memoir writing.