Freelance Writing Direct with Estelle: Conversations with authors, journalists, agents, novelists, memoirists, niche writers, publishers, writing teachers, assigning editors and media experts. #170 Braiding Cultural Context into Your Memoir with Melissa Fraterrigo
Estelle Erasmus sits down with award-winning author Melissa Fraterrigo, whose latest book, The Perils of Girlhood, is a memoir in essays that examines identity, fear, body image, motherhood, memory, and the cultural touchstones that shaped so many girls growing up in the '80s and '90s.
Together, Estelle and Melissa explore the moments that define girlhood, from fear and body image to parenting, consent, pop culture, and the stories we carry into adulthood, and how writing about them can open conversations we rarely have out loud.
In this episode:
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The real fears that follow girls into adulthood, from unsafe encounters to inherited anger
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How pop culture influences like Judy Blume, Madonna, and true crime stories shaped a generation
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The challenge of talking to teenage daughters about consent, body image, and safety
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Using braided essay structures to layer personal experience with cultural reality
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Turning difficult memories into narrative without judgment or sensationalism
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Why reading your work aloud can reveal emotional truth
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Teaching writing in a way that encourages students to find and trust their voice
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/unHd_sT5lZ8
About Melissa Fraterrigo
Melissa Fraterrigo's memoir, The Perils of Girlhood was published by the University of Nebraska Press in Fall 2025. She is also the author of the novel Glory Days (University of Nebraska Press), which was named one of "The Best Fiction Books of 2017" by the Chicago Review of Books as well as the short story collection The Longest Pregnancy (Livingston Press). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies from storySouth and Shenandoah to Notre Dame Review, Sou'wester and The Millions. She teaches creative writing at Purdue University, in the Butler University MFA in Creative Writing program, and is also the founder and executive director of the Lafayette Writers' Studio in Lafayette, Indiana, where she offers classes on the art and craft of writing. She lives with her husband and two daughters in West Lafayette, Indiana and can be found at melissafraterrigo.com.
Connect with Melissa:
Website: https://www.melissafraterrigo.com/
The Perils of Girlhood: https://www.melissafraterrigo.com/the-perils-of-girlhood
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissafraterrigo/
Get More from Estelle
- Upcoming Webinar with Writer's Digest: Amplifying the Echo Effect in Memoir and Essays, February 26th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET If you want to understand how patterns, callbacks, and emotional echoes can deepen your work, join me for this brand new interactive craft webinar. Learn more and register here.
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🎓 Learn with Estelle: • NYU Zoom Course: Writing About Your Life Through Memoir & Essays — Discover how to beat writer's block, shape a powerful narrative, pitch editors, and walk away with a ready-to-publish essay or memoir pages. Find out more information and register here.
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Private Small-Group Memoir Class — January and March are sold out. Next 6-week session begins May 2026. Email me at freelancewritingdirect@gmail.com for details and to get on the waiting list.
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📰 Read & Subscribe • Substack:— NEW POST: How to Pitch Slate: Advice, Ideas and Examples on How to Write Articles and Essays from NYU My Editor-on-Call Event
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• Newsletter: Sign up at estelleserasmus.com for show updates + a free Pitching Guide.
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🎤 Watch: Estelle's TEDx Talk — How to Get Noticed in Your Writing and Beyond
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📘 Book: Writing That Gets Noticed — named a Poets & Writers "Best Book for Writers." Audiobook here
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🎧 Listen: Freelance Writing Direct Podcast — 2025 Podcast of the Year (American Writing Awards)
About Estelle Estelle Erasmus is an award-winning journalist,TEDx Speaker, author of Writing That Gets Noticed, and host of Freelance Writing Direct. A contributing editor for Writer's Digest and adjunct professor at NYU, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, PBS/Next Avenue, The Independent, and AARP The Magazine. She has served as editor-in-chief of five national magazines.
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