Memoir Nation

Victoria Chang has been one of the country’s most prolific poet-writers of the past few years, with a series of books exploring universal topics of grief, shame, silence, legacy, and identity. This week Brooke and Grant chose to explore silence and its impact on families, on selfhood, and of course on our writing. Victoria’s insights and disclosures will leave you feeling validated and inspired in your own explorations of even the most complicated and emotionally challenging subjects. A true treat! Victoria Chang’s most recent book of poems is With My Back to the World, published in 2024. It received the Forward Prize in Poetry for Best Collection. Some of her other books include The Trees Witness Everything, OBIT, and Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief. She has written several children’s books as well. She has received multiple fellowships and prizes and is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and Director of Poetry@Tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All memoirists at some point in the writing process will grapple with what’s theirs to tell. This week's show focuses on this all-important topic of permission. When do you need it? Who gives it to you and when and for what purpose? And do you need permission at all—from anyone but yourself? Centered around topics in guest Elissa Altman’s latest book, which is titled Permission, this is an empowering, deep-felt, and permission-giving episode—and something all writers, especially memoirists, can use to stay the course and keep going. Elissa Altman is the author of the Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create and the award-winning author of three memoirs: Motherland; Treyf; and Poor Man’s Feast. Altman’s work has appeared everywhere from Bitter Southerner and Orion to The Guardian, Narrative, O: The Oprah Magazine, Lion’s Roar, Krista Tippett’s On Being, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington. She has a popular Substack, Poor Man’s Feast, and she’s also a James Beard Award-winner for narrative food writing and was a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week’s show is a fun and fascinating consideration of all the ways we’re shaped by technology and how we are technological beings, more and more with each passing year. Grant and Brooke share their earliest internet, email, and social media interactions, and connect with guest Vauhini Vara, whose new book, Searches, explores our online footprints, how technology shapes us, and how we both exploit and get exploited by big tech—like Google, YouTube, and social media companies. A truly interesting consideration of how far we’ve evolved alongside technology. Vauhini Vara began her journalism career as a technology reporter at The Wall Street Journal and later launched, edited and wrote for The New Yorker. Her latest book is Searches, a work of journalism and memoir about how big technology companies are changing our understanding of our selves and our communities. Her debut novel, The Immortal King Rao, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and her story collection, This is Salvaged, was longlisted for The Story Prize and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Amanda Knox granted us a special interview that delves into the power of memoir to reclaim your own narrative. This episode touches upon themes that run through Amanda’s new memoir—about what it means to be free, how we live with the stories that are told about us, and how memoir can be a vehicle to release yourself from the stories others tell to center the story you need to tell. There’s so much insight in this interview, and permission and encouragement for writers to write, write, write! Not to be missed. Amanda Knox is an author, journalist, and podcast host whose work explores criminal justice, media ethics, and the human experience. She is the author of two memoirs—Waiting to Be Heard and Free: My Search for Meaning—and co-hosts the podcast, Labyrinths. Her writing and public speaking focus on wrongful convictions, storytelling, and personal transformation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the heels of Mother’s Day, tune into Memoir Nation this week for a conversation about *mother as character*—among many other potential characters any one of us might be on the page. Guest Nicole Graev Lipson explores the idea of where fiction ends and truth begins when you’re a woman through this fascinating conversation prompted by her recent memoir-in-essays Mothers and Other Fictional Characters. If you’ve ever thought about the boundaries between truth and fiction as a writer or a reader, or the confines certain roles limit women to or within—girl, mother, wife—you won’t want to miss this episode. Nicole Graev Lipson is the author of the memoir-in-essays Mothers and Other Fictional Characters. Her writing has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, selected for The Best American Essays anthology, and shortlisted for a National Magazine Award. Her work has appeared in The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Gettysburg Review, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, Alaska Quarterly Review, LA Review of Books, The Millions, Nylon, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, among other publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Memoir Nation, Jill Ciment joins us to talk about what it means to reconsider a previously written memoir, and what that says about the nature of truth. We’re diving into the unreliability of truth, how we see things differently over time, and the nature of memoir as a flawed container for our stories. We’re also two weeks into the rebrand of this podcast, and Brooke and Grant invite you to check out Memoir Nation at www.memoirnation.com and sign up to join us at any level of membership—including free. We’re excited for what’s in store! Jill Ciment is the author of several acclaimed novels, including The Body in Question, Heroic Measures, and The Tattoo Artist, as well as two memoirs—Half a Life and her most recent, Consent. Born in Montreal and based in both Brooklyn and Gainesville. Her work has been adapted for film and widely anthologized, and she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Jill is Professor Emerita of English at the University of Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’ve been waiting a long time to make this announcement, and the day is finally here. Write-minded is rebranding as Memoir Nation—and along with Memoir Nation the podcast comes Memoir Nation the community and website, and an annual event we’ll be kicking off in January called JanYourStory. On this week’s episode, Grant and Brooke share the news, and talk about why they’re going this direction, and why they’re both so moved and inspired by memoir. The show won’t change all that much, though the focus may be a little more refined. Please visit www.MemoirNation.com to see what we’re up to, and if you’re a long time listener, we’re asking for your support by way of donations at: https://buymeacoffee.com/memoirnation. This helps us get off the ground with this new endeavor. And we thank you for listening and for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Writers, authors, you do not want to miss these great insights about reading on stage, taking up space, and generally being yourself—only amplified—when you read your work in public. Guest Jorah LaFleur brings a wealth of encouragement and permission, along with some great tips to improve your presence when you perform or read aloud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we’re featuring longtime agent and publishing pro Betsy Lerner on her debut novel, Shred Sisters. We talk about being an industry insider and whether that gives you a leg up, as well as the old adage to write what you know. Betsy shares with us how her lived experience shows up in this book, noting that Freud would have a field day—and before it’s all over, she offers generous and tactical marketing tips for authors. This episode has got it all!On this week’s Substackin, we’re giving a shoutout to Sub Club, which you can and should subscribe to at https://subclub.substack.com. Sub Club offers many great resources for writers—on where to submit, who's looking for submissions, and best practices for getting your work out into the world. Highly recommended resource for writers! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A few weeks back, Grant suggested Write-minded dedicate a whole episode to All Fours, by Miranda July—and we decided to do it. This week Brooke and Grant explore All Fours as a novel of a generation, and talk about who Miranda July is, why the book has hit such a zeitgeist moment, and whether publishers can anticipate or make these kinds of successes. Brooke has suggested that All Fours is the Fear of Flying of this generation, and we’re diving into why the book matters, some of its controversies and uncomfortable moments, and why we think you should read it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.