Relative Strangers: A Conversation with Christine Wolf, Sarah Leibov, and Michèle Dawson Haber

The Book Stall welcomes Christine Wolf, Sarah Leibov, and Michèle Dawson Haber to the store for a discussion featuring their new book, Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship. What happens when a DNA test, an old letter, or a stranger's voice cracks open the story you thought you knew? In this intimate conversation, three contributors to the acclaimed anthology Relative Strangers share their experiences discovering hidden siblings, silenced histories, and the fathers they never got to know. Together with moderator Heidi Stevens, they explore how family secrets shape identity, how writers navigate the risks of sharing family secrets—and what becomes possible when we finally tell the truth.

Contributor Christine Wolf is a Chicago-based author, memoir coach, and writing instructor exploring vulnerability, shame, and silence. Her essay "Finding Elizabeth" recounts how a DNA match led her to the older sister she never knew — and how that discovery inspired her to finally speak openly about their younger sister's sudden death. A former Chicago Tribune columnist and Moth StorySLAM champion, Christine teaches memoir, live storytelling, and expressive writing for emotional healing, drawing on research showing that writing about our hardest experiences improves physical, emotional, and interpersonal health. She's the founder of Writers' Haven Evanston and publishes Writers' Haven by Christine Wolf on Substack. Learn more at christinewolf.com.

Contributor Michèle Dawson Haber is a Canadian writer whose essay “Yes, My Story: An Awakening” recounts how hearing her birth father’s voice for the first time — on a digitized reel-to-reel tape, five decades after his death by suicide — shattered the carefully constructed story she had told herself about whose history belonged to her. Her essay is a meditation on identity, silence, and the right to one’s own origin story. She is a contributor to Relative Strangers. Michèle's writing has appeared in the of The New York Times, The Manifest Station, Salon, Oldster Magazine, and The Brevity Blog. She’s appeared on NPR’s This American Life, CBC’s Tapestry, and other popular podcasts. Her Substack Who’s My Daddy? explores the links between identity and having one unknown birth parent. Learn more about Michèle at micheledhaber.com.

Contributor Sarah Leibov is a writer whose work examines family secrets, identity, and the cost of deception across generations. Her essay “A Mother, A Daughter, and Two New Sisters” chronicles her discovery of a half-sister her father had kept hidden — and what it means to rebuild a sense of self and family after the story you were told turns out to be incomplete. In addition to Relative Strangers, she is a contributor to Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture & Heritage and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope. Sarah has published essays in Huffpost, Newsweek, Lilith, and Tablet Magazine. You can find a full list of her publications and learn more about Sarah at her website, sarahleibov.com. 

Moderator Heidi Stevens is the Director of External Affairs at the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, a research institute that works to optimize brain development for all children. Prior to joining University of Chicago, Heidi worked at the Chicago Tribune for 23 years as a writer and editor. She maintains a weekly nationally syndicated column and serves on the Board of Directors for FAN, a North Shore speaker series.