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In this 92NY virtual reading, Lynn Melnick speaks about how Dolly Parton’s songs helped shape the structure of her memoir, I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton (University of Texas Press, 2022), in a conversation with poet Deborah Paredez.
In this Books Are Magic event, Greg Marshall reads from his debut memoir, Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It (Abrams Press, 2023), and discusses what inspires his writing with author Chloé Cooper Jones. Marshall is featured in Literary MagNet in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this PBS NewsHour report, Jeffrey Brown speaks to the teams behind memoir publishing platforms LifeTime Memoirs and StoryTerrace, which help anyone looking to publish a memoir about their lives or those of loved ones.
“All the books I’ve written in the past were books that I decided to write suddenly while I was writing something else.” In this London Review Bookshop conversation, French writer Édouard Louis speaks about his writing process and discovering the parts of his mother’s life he did not know for his new memoir, A Woman’s Battles and Transformations (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022), with translator and novelist Tash Aw.
In this New York Public Library event, Cullman Center fellow Hua Hsu reads from his debut memoir, Stay True (Doubleday, 2022), and speaks about writing through grief with Ken Chen. Hsu is the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in memoir or autobiography.
“Before we go any further together, me with my lanterns, you following close behind, light flickering on both of our faces, I want to be clear about something: This isn’t a tell-all.” Maggie Smith reads from her debut memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful (Atria/One Signal, 2023), and speaks to Leslie Jamison about the writing process in this Books Are Magic event held at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, New York.
In this video, Megan Nix talks about her experience with congenital cytomegalovirus and how it inspired her debut memoir, Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept From Pregnant Women, and a Mother’s Pursuit of the Truth (Doubleday, 2023).
“We tend to write about things that surprise us.” In this 2011 clip from a 92Y event in New York City, Joyce Carol Oates reads from and discusses the experience of writing her memoir A Widow’s Story (Ecco, 2011) with poet and essayist Henri Cole.
“I’m not convinced by myself as a writer,” says Adam Mars-Jones in this London Review Bookshop video about his slightly negative writing process and the origins of his memoir Kid Gloves: A Voyage Round My Father (Particular Books, 2015).
In this Free Library of Philadelphia event, Joseph Earl Thomas reads from his debut memoir, Sink (Grand Central, 2023), and speaks with author Elias Rodriques about writing in third person and on the subjects of violence, care, and family. Sink is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
