SHARILYN REDIESS

Sharilyn Rediess thinks and writes about the power of family stories to shape our identity—stories about origins and migrations, about places and ethnicities, about heroism and failure. Why are we so eager to take in their narratives, despite fragmentary evidence and distortions of time, and use them to piece together an idea of ourselves that we believe and hold up to the world? Why is searching for our ancestors so compelling?

A native Californian, Rediess migrated back east in her 20’s and has called Rochester, New York, her home for more than thirty years.