For our most recent craft book discussion, we had a fantastic conversation about the ins-outs-ups-downs and sideways of writing memoir. Here are some of the things we shared…
Memoirs That Have Stayed With Us (in no particular order)
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Alexandra Fuller)
Night (Elie Wiesel)
A Drinking Life (Peter Hamill)
Liar’s Club (Mary Karr)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)
Wild (Cheryl Strayed)
Fatelessness (Imre Kertesz)
Limbo: A Memoir (A. Manette Ansay)
Hell and Other Destinations (Madeline Albright)
The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
This Is Not the Story You Think It Is…: A Season of Unlikely Happiness (Laura Munson)
Duke of Deception (Geoffrey Wolff)
My Losing Season (Pat Conroy)
My Father’s Keep (Ed Abell)
The Land Remembers (Ben Logan)
Maid (Stephanie Land)
Ma’s Dictionary: Straddling the Social Class Divide (Milan Kovacovic)
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life (Amy Krause Rosenthal)
We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter (Rachael Hanel)
When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi)
Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Ocean Vuong)
Memoir Writing by Our Participants
Blogs
Victoria Lynn Smith: Writing Near the Lake
Jan Wilberg: Red’s Wrap
Books
Nancy Bauer-King: Madness to Ministry: A Woman’s Journey from Psych Unit to Pulpit; Little Feet Be Careful
Ed Abell: My Father’s Keep: A Journey of Forgiveness through the Himalaya
Myles Hopper: My Father’s Shadow
Kim Suhr: Maybe I’ll Learn: Snapshots of a Novice Mom; Ramon: An Immigrant’s Journey (Ramon Aguirre as told to Kim Suhr)
Resources for Writing Creative Nonfiction & Memoir
Brevity article: “Write About Your Loss”
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir (Beth Kephart)