{"id":16385,"date":"2025-11-13T14:16:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T14:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=16385"},"modified":"2025-11-13T17:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T17:51:22","slug":"sasha-bonet-leaving-room-for-story-family-home-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/11\/13\/sasha-bonet-leaving-room-for-story-family-home-character\/","title":{"rendered":"Sasha Bon\u00e9t on \u2018leaving room for the story to shape itself\u2019 and how a family home can become a character"},"content":{"rendered":"    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Writer, critic, and editor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sashabonet.com\/\">Sasha Bon\u00e9t<\/a> joins Storyboard contributor <a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/authors\/christina-m-tapper\/\">Christina M. Tapper<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/admin\/2449998\/episodes\/18179773-sasha-bonet-on-leaving-room-for-the-story-to-shape-itself-and-how-a-family-home-can-become-a-character\">this week\u2019s episode of the Nieman Storyboard podcast<\/a>, in a wide-ranging conversation about Bon\u00e9t\u2019s writing process for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sashabonet.com\/landingpage\/\">The Waterbearers<\/a>,\u201d a memoir about mothers and daughters. Bon\u00e9t and Tapper discuss surrendering to how a story unfolds, rather than forcing it, and how to turn a physical place into a key character.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Bon\u00e9t, a professor of creative writing for Columbia University and Barnard College, has written for The Paris Review, Aperture, New York magazine, and Vogue. \u201cThe Waterbearers\u201d is her book debut. At the heart of it, the book \u201cis an American family story,\u201d Bon\u00e9t says. \u201cIn the Black American family oftentimes it is a matriarchal family, and that kind of queers the traditional American setup that we understand, which is that the man is at the head of the household. [The book goes] through my family lineage, but it&#8217;s also connecting to different policies and histories that impact the way the Black family is structured.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>\u201cI wanted to look at American history through the lens of the women that helped to really birth this nation from the beginning of the empire to understand an alternative viewpoint from the people who are often disregarded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-spacer mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<div style=\"height:39px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-html mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-18179773\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2449998\/episodes\/18179773-sasha-bonet-on-leaving-room-for-the-story-to-shape-itself-and-how-a-family-home-can-become-a-character.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-18179773&#038;player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>[ Follow us in <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/nieman-storyboard\/id1804505440\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4cN4SOwf5Am05PoA9wckcA\">Spotify<\/a>, or your <a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.buzzsprout.com\/2449998\/episodes\">favorite podcast app<\/a>. ]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-spacer mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<div style=\"height:39px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Water is a major theme in the book, and it provides Bon\u00e9t a through line in telling not just her family\u2019s matrilineal story, but also the history of Black womanhood and motherhood in the U.S. The theme didn\u2019t reveal itself until Bon\u00e9t conducted interviews with her grandmother Betty Jean, her mother, Connie, and her six aunts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>\u201c\u200aThe water kept coming to me.\u200a I actually wasn&#8217;t trying to chase it. It was something that, when the women in my family were sharing their stories with me, there was always water. It was a metaphor or it was present, or they were talking about their baptisms. Everything was kind of situated around their proximity to water,\u201d Bon\u00e9t says. \u201cThe water helped as a kind of grounding principle for structure, but also for how I was thinking about writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Bon\u00e9t says she loves to \u201cleave a lot of room for the story to shape itself. For example, if I&#8217;m writing criticism, if I&#8217;m interviewing or doing research, I don&#8217;t want to go into it with my own idea or concept. I like for it to be shaped by what I discover. I allow a lot of space for the interviews and the research to help me build an idea of what I will write about. So that was the case for the book. &#8230; I allow myself to be carried in the direction that the research takes me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>To help thread the stories of her family with her own experiences as a mother, daughter, and granddaughter, Bon\u00e9t made her grandmother\u2019s house in Houston, known as 5010, a central character.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>\u201cI didn&#8217;t even really identify the significance of the house until I was writing about it,\u201d Bon\u00e9t says. \u201cPhysical space is really important for this family. But, also I think specifically for people who lack a kind of origin, to have a place that they can ground themselves in.\u200a A place to gather and a place where you can always go. What a gift. I had a lot of fun with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>During the conversation, Bon\u00e9t also shares how collage and creating a writing altar helped her bring \u201cThe Waterbearers\u201d to life. The excerpts below are edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-image mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/the-waterbearers-a-memoir-of-mothers-and-daughters-sasha-bon-t\/07922bd98c55c5ae\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16398\" style=\"width:768px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/11\/waterbearers-landscape.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe Waterbearers\u201d by Sasha Bon\u00e9t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On the importance of interviewing her aunts in birth order before talking to her mother:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>My grandmother had 11 children. I spoke with all the daughters. I didn&#8217;t interview her sons. I really wanted to get the story through the gaze of the women and the daughters. And the order in which I interviewed them was really important. Birth order, to me, plays such a significant role in how we engage with the world because we&#8217;re kind of given a position that we didn&#8217;t ask for. The way we are able to situate ourselves within our family of course carries over into the way we engage with everyone else outside the house.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>And so I looked at the birth order and I thought, \u201cOkay, I spoke with Granny. Who&#8217;s next?\u201d I started with the eldest. And you know, the first child is always having to be a bit of a guinea pig. [My grandmother] was very young when she had her. [My aunt] also allowed for a kind of permission because she&#8217;s quite stoic and doesn&#8217;t speak very much.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>And then I went around my mother because I knew she would be the hardest one to speak with. So then I interviewed all her sisters, and then I came back to her because I knew that she would want to correct. And so I said, \u201cWell, you know, you don&#8217;t have to speak with me, but I&#8217;m telling the story and I&#8217;ve spoken with all your sisters.\u201d And she&#8217;s like, \u201cWhat? What did they say?\u201d And then she&#8217;s like, \u201cOh, they got it all wrong. I have to tell you what really happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>It was really important to think about how to organize the interviews and how to move through the family structure in a way that would allow me more openness.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On making her grandmother\u2019s house a key character:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>In a practical sense, I needed to include it because I had so many characters. \u2026 I needed a place where everyone could be in one room. I think in telling any story, whether it&#8217;s in film or writing, you need a place. \u201cSeinfeld\u201d had a place; \u201cFriends\u201d had a place. There always needs to be a place where all the characters can be in one setting, and then the main characters can kind of exist outside of that. So I thought I would place them there. But then as I started situating them, I really got into writing about the house. &#8230; You know, when you spend time at a place, you just kind of don&#8217;t see it. It&#8217;s like an extension of your own skin. When I sat to think about it, what is 5010? What does it represent? What does it feel like? What does it look like? I was like, oh, wow, this is so rich \u2026 and the more I thought about it, it is a character.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On managing pushback from her editor about the opening of the book:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>I wanted to define \u201cwaterbearer\u201d from the beginning. When I wrote [the prelude], I was kind of writing it for myself. Like, what even is this waterbearer? I had already finished the first draft of the book before I wrote that. \u2026I wrote this in one sitting. I sent it to a friend and she was like, \u201cYes.\u201d My editor, John Freeman, was like, \u201cNo.\u201d [He said,] \u201cThis voice is too different. The reader who picks up your book at a bookstore is gonna read this and they&#8217;re gonna think that this is what the book is like, and it&#8217;s not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>[But] I just felt so strongly about [including it]. Me and my editor have such a wonderful relationship and he usually doesn&#8217;t push back on me so much when I feel adamant. \u2026 [The prelude] just flowed. And when things come to me in that way, I feel really strongly about them. \u2026 I thought, I have to honor whatever this was that came through. And you know, sometimes you have these things come through and they get past you. They kind of slip through your fingers. And then sometimes you can grab \u2018em. And this was one of those moments where something came through and I was able to grab it. I felt that it was necessary. And so [John] said, \u201cOkay.\u201d And then there were some other people at Knopf that were like, \u201cYeah, we love this.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On creating an ancestral altar in her \u2018writer\u2019s womb\u2019:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>I just needed a place of my own \u2014 very Virginia Woolf. And because it was post-pandemic, so many office buildings were empty. So I was able to find something really inexpensive in Manhattan. It wasn&#8217;t until I moved in that I realized this is the first place I&#8217;ve had of my own in the past 15 years since I had my daughter.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>It was small. I painted it pink. I called it the \u201cwriter&#8217;s womb.\u201d It was this little place that held me. I set up an altar with all of all these women. I was writing about ancestors, but also all of these women and writers, like James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou. W.E.B. Du Bois. All of these people before me who\u2019ve kind of paved the way, and I just put them all on this altar. I would start my day at the altar and say, \u201cOkay, I&#8217;m here. Please guide me. Give me the courage to go where you asked me to go. Give me the courage to say the truth.\u201d &#8230; I started with the same kind of chant, meditation, every morning to ground myself and to remind myself that I&#8217;m a part of a lineage of people who have been practicing this craft.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On ending the book with a collage:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>I&#8217;d written this piece for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/24\/reimagining-black-futures\/\">The Paris Review about Lorna Simpson and Breonna Taylor<\/a>. And I had started collaging with my daughter during the pandemic. So that was on my mind. Leslie Jamison from Columbia University read that piece and contacted me and asked me to do an online guided workshop about collaging and its relationship to writing.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>This is during the pandemic. Everything&#8217;s on Zoom. So I&#8217;m creating this collage for this workshop that I&#8217;m guiding. And I ended up just loving it and I just held onto it. I framed it, I named it. I actually wanted to name the book, \u201cWater Is a Body Too.\u201d That was the original title that I had on my proposal \u2026 I just thought it was symbolic\u2026 So I wanted it to be included in the end, as a testament to the entire process.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reading, Listening, and Visual Art List:<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-list mb-4 list max-w-screen-full mx-auto pl-5 \">\n            \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sashabonet.com\/landingpage\/\">The Waterbearers<\/a>\u201d (Sasha Bon\u00e9t, 2025)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/everythingispolitical.com\/readings\/the-waterbearers-camille-billops\">The Artist Who Gave Up Her Daughter<\/a>\u201d (originally published in Topic, May 18, 2019, and included in \u201cThe Waterbearers\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hauserwirth.com\/hauser-wirth-exhibitions\/42505-lorna-simpson-1985-92\/?lightbox=waterbearer\">Waterbearer\u201d by Lorna Simpson<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/eddie_fiction\/?hl=en\">Femi Adeyemi<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rakiathegreat\/?hl=en\">Rakia Clark<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/saidiyahartman.com\/\">Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval<\/a>\u201d (Saidiya Hartman, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/611797\/white-girls-by-hilton-als\/\">White Girls<\/a>\u201d (Hilton Als, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.katymshannon.com\/katys-bio\/\">Katy Morlas Shannon<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/08\/14\/video\/belizaire-frey-children-portrait-met.html\">\u2018His Name Was B\u00e9lizaire\u2019: Rare Portrait of Enslaved Child Arrives at the Met<\/a>\u201d (The New York Times, August 24, 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/336683-you-know-they-straightened-out-the-mississippi-river-in-places\">\u201cWater has perfect memory &#8230;\u201d<\/a> (Toni Morrison, <a href=\"https:\/\/puritan-magazine.com\/files\/brusert\/files\/2013\/03\/morrison_site-of-memory.pdf\">\u201cThe Site of Memory\u201d<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/poetry.lib.uidaho.edu\/lucille-clifton\/what-the-mirror-said\/\">what the mirror said<\/a>\u201d by Lucille Clifton<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/06\/24\/reimagining-black-futures\/\">Reimagining Black Futures<\/a>\u201d (The Paris Review, June 24, 2020)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/arts.columbia.edu\/profiles\/leslie-jamison\">Leslie Jamison<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-heading   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show credits<\/h2>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-image mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.buzzsprout.com\/2449998\/episodes\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"Nieman Storyboard podcast\" class=\"wp-image-15145\" style=\"width:338px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-40x40.png 40w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-200x200.png 200w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-180x180.png 180w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-360x360.png 360w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-115x115.png 115w, https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Nieman-Storyboard-Podcast_Square-Logo-Sharp-A-230x230.png 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong<br>Episode producer and interview by Christina M. Tapper<br>Episode editor: Kelly Araja<br>Audience editor: Adriana Lacy<br>Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle<br>Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu<br>Music: \u201cGolden Grass,\u201d by Blue Dot Sessions (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sessions.blue\/\">www.sessions.blue<\/a>)<br>Cover design by Adriana Lacy<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>Nieman Storyboard is presented by the <a href=\"https:\/\/nieman.harvard.edu\/\">Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">***<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"block block-subscribe full-width\">\n            <h2 class=\"subscribe-title\">Subscribe to Storyboard<\/h2>\n        \n            <div class=\"subscribe-content\">\n            <p>Get insights into the craft of journalism and storytelling in your inbox, delivered on Fridays.<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    \n                <div class=\"subscribe-embed\">\n                            <div class=\"mt-5\">\n                 <div translate=\"no\" class='mailmunch-forms-widget-1154494'><\/div>\n\n                <\/div>\n               \n                    <\/div>\n    \n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The writer and cultural critic breaks down her approach on interviewing, research, and story structure for her memoir, \u201cThe Waterbearers\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[443,7],"tags":[429,431,430],"topics":[],"authors":[460],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-16385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","category-5-questions","tag-books","tag-memoir","tag-publishing","authors-christina-m-tapper"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sasha Bon\u00e9t on \u2018leaving room for the story to shape itself\u2019 and how a family home can become a character - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The writer and cultural critic breaks down her approach on interviewing, research, and story structure for her memoir, \u201cThe 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