Helen Garner's "The Season" offers a poignant exploration of family, aging, and masculinity through the lens of her grandson's amateur football league. Garner's signature unflinching style reveals intimate details of her own aging process and her evolving relationship with her grandson. The book transcends the sporting context, delving into broader themes of generational differences and the complexities of human connection. Garner's keen observations and witty prose create a compelling narrative that resonates with readers of all ages. The book's emotional depth and insightful reflections on life's transitions make it a memorable and thought-provoking read.
In 'Abandon Me', Melissa Febos delves into the intense bonds of love and the need for connection, weaving together stories of her family, lovers, and personal struggles. The book is a fearless exploration of love, loss, and identity, drawing on diverse sources like psychology, mythology, and personal narratives. Febos reflects on her relationships, including a tumultuous affair with a married woman, and her complex heritage, navigating themes of abandonment and self-discovery.
Whip Smart is a powerful memoir that chronicles Melissa Febos's four years as a dominatrix in New York City while attending college. The book explores themes of risk-taking, self-destruction, and recovery, offering a nuanced exploration of sex, power, and identity. Febos's narrative is both deeply personal and universally relatable, capturing the complexities of human experience with honesty and insight.
Celebrated writer and memoirist Melissa Febos on the art of the memoir, the alchemy of personal experience and literary craft, and how to turn the raw material of life into art. We also her latest book, The Dry Season, where she examines the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes Febos found during a year of celibacy.
We also talk about:
- Writing the unspeakable and undoing shame.
- The role of research and personal obsession in memoir.
- Finding structure through inventory, list-making & reflection.
- Balancing vulnerability with privacy on the page.
- How Melissa decides what’s hers to tell—and when.
- Her advice on discouragement, creative play & sustaining the practice.
ABOUT MELISSA FEBOS
Melissa Febos is the nationally bestselling author of four books, including Girlhood, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, and Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative. She has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, LAMBDA Literary, the British Library, and more. Her essays appear in The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Best American Essays. She is a full professor at the University of Iowa and lives in Iowa City with her wife, poet Donika Kelly.
RESOURCES & LINKS:
📑 Interview Transcript (forthcoming)
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