Jeffrey Mason opens his heart out to Sharjah audience

Driven by a profound belief that everyone has a life story that needs to be told, heard and preserved, American author Jeffrey Mason shared his words of wisdom with Sharjah audience on Wednesday evening at Forum 2, of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).

Calling himself an “accidental writer,” Jeffrey Mason opened his heart out with the audience and encouraged them to tell their story. Known for writing books like “Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story,” “Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story,” “Grandfather, I Want to Hear Your Story” “Grandmother, I Want to Hear Your Story,” Jeffrey has a mission to encourage people to tell their stories.

Jeffrey was in awe of Sharjah. It was his first visit to the Emirates. Sharing his observation of Sharjah with Gulf Today, he said, “I am in awe of this place. I arrived here on Sunday evening and I have been here for three days. I love the hospitality. I am amazed to see the passion for words and books people have here. We forget in the West that this is where the era began, writing began here, mathematics began here, medicine began here and it is an honour for me to be here. I told my wife how honoured and humbled I feel to be here.” 

Jeffrey is 62, but he stumbled upon writing at the age of 58. Sharing his accidental brush with writing he said, “I never aspired to be an author. I never ever thought that I would be sitting with you guys at such a wonderful gathering.” 

American author and founder of “Hear Your Story,” Jeffrey reflected on how his father’s death from Alzheimer’s inspired him to help others record their life stories. “The two-paragraph obituary didn’t do justice to my dad’s life,” he shared. “Every single person has an amazing, one-of-a-kind story that deserves to be heard and preserved for generations.” 

He added, “I never expected to be an author. I had never ever written a book and never planned to do. But in 2019, my father was gripped with Alzheimer’s and I just wanted to know about my dad. My father was everything to me, a provider, a leader, disciplinarian, but I wanted to know him as a person. I wanted to know his teenage years — his hobbies etc and that’s how my first book came into being.” 

“I think my books are journals that help people to share their life story. And part of the goal is that people should write about their life story and share it with their family and friends. They should talk more about their life.” 

We are living in the digital era, where social media has become a very powerful tool to get connected with each other. Sharing his insight on the relevance of social media, he said, “We are connected through social networking platforms but in fact we are not. We text, we don’t talk. We should sit down for an hour over a cup of tea to talk and laugh.” 

“Because of too much exposure to technology, I see kids now want real books not eBooks. They are going back to bookstores for buying books rather than getting eBooks in the United States. They have started embracing books once again. I am happy to see the change.” 

When asked to share his experience of interacting with people, he said, “People give my books to their father, mother, uncle, grandparents with a hope they too can sit down and tell their stories. I always believe each one of us has amazing life stories. If you listen to their stories you will feel connected.” 

Interestingly, Jeffrey Mason doesn’t believe in writer’s block. “Doctors don’t get blocked. Taxi drivers don’t get blocked. They just do their job. So as a writer, I write. Some days what I write is rubbish. But I still write. The editor’s job is to come in later and do the vacuuming.”