Beth Kephart joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the crucial differences between a book of essays and a memoir in essays, choosing what to keep and what to cut, the gifts of nonlinear storytelling, the ethics of telling other people’s stories, allowing...

Lori L. Tharps join Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about why memoirs are not an indulgence, the importance of finding your memoir’s theme, deciding where your book should begin, having a writing life that feeds you and also keeps you fed, and systemic racism in...

Literary Citizen of the Year Allison K Williams joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the importance of plot, structure, and dramatic arc in memoir, the elements that make a story a story, insuring your memoir has a reader takeaway, what being in the circus...

Kathy Curto joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about accepting imperfection in our writing, the effect of time and distance in our work, finding beauty even in the painful, what she’s learned through teaching writing to a broad range of students, and her...

Celebrated author and memoir teacher Laura Davis joins Let’sTalk Memoir for a special holiday episode for a conversation about writing her memoir The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story and how she reconciled with the mother who betrayed her and came...

Keema and Tekla Waterfield join Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about being raised by a young single mother in Southeast Alaska after their father left the family. With very little money but a passion for music and art, their mother moved them frequently in...

John Ross Bowie joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about working in Hollywood, mental health, what fatherhood and manhood can mean, the patterns we discover in our lives and write about, incorporating the sensory in our work, grappling with shame, coming to...

Isidra Mencos joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about setting her coming-of-age memoir against the backdrop of Spain’s cultural upheaval after the death of Franco, balancing personal narrative with history and research, writing about sex, the destructive...

Jamie Gehring joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about her braided memoir Madman in the Woods which details her and her family’s experience living next to Unibomber Ted Kaczynski, how she incorporated and structured research, interviews, and her own memories,...

Lily Dunn joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the impact her father leaving to follow the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had on her childhood, when she knew it was time to write her memoir Sins of the Father, stepping into her role as reflective narrator,...

Sonya Huber joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about structure and time in memoir, the challenge of getting to the core of who we are and facing ourselves on the page, how her perspective on “voice” has changed over time and why that drove her to write her new...

Season 2 of Let’s Talk Memoir is almost here! I’m excited to bring you all of the episodes I’ve been working on. These episodes cover voice, sharing family secrets, braided memoir, nonlinear memoir, what it’s like to move from other creative disciplines to memoir,...

Dr. Ginger Campbell joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the nature of memory and how that affects memoir writing, the phenomenon of false memories, cognitive dissonance, the slipperiness of what we can remember and how each time we do we actually recreate...

Phillip Lopate, a central figure in the revival of the American essay joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the integral role the divided self plays in memoir, striking the balance between telling and showing, how knowing your own flaws and defects helps...

Judy Bolton-Fasman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation on how writing about complicated relationships with generosity creates stories and characters that stay with readers, the case for speculative nonfiction, the impact fellowships have had on her writing,...

Laura Davis joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about creating tension, writing for ourselves versus an audience, moving from the personal to the universal, trusting your reader, and the gift of self-discovery on the page. Also in this episode: Self-care when...

Paulette Perhach joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about why it’s okay to see writing as a business, balancing both grace and accountability in our work, the importance of a writing community, overcoming imposter syndrome, nurturing ourselves, and what...

Kelly Sundberg joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about sharing her story of domestic violence with the world, depicting trauma and triggering events in memoir, the alchemical value of PTSD, navigating the privacy of others, and incorporating essays in...