Whether they’re writing memoir or fiction inspired by their lives, authors often have a huge hurdle to overcome first: feeling permitted to share their stories, and those of others. It can be a matter of shyness, shame, concern over possibly implicating and upsetting others—and in some cases, fear of legal liability. In this panel, inspired by Elissa Altman’s wonderful new memoir/craft book, Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create, we’ll discuss all of the above. Participating will be Altman; Hyeseung Song, author of Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl; Jonathan Lerner, author of Performance Anxiety: The Headlong Adolescence of a Mid-Century Kid. The panel will be moderated by Sari Botton, author of And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo, and editor of both Oldster Magazine and Memoir Land, the latter of which is dedicated to all aspects of first-person writing. Part of Woodstock Bookfest, at Woodstock Community Center at 56 Rock City Road in Woodstock, NY.