Magical Memoir Moments
A Chance Encounter, Elizabeth Bird, Chuck Close, and Memoirs for Young Readers
What hath memoir to do with children’s lit? To find out, I consulted an expert, Elizabeth Bird, youth materials specialist at the New York Public Library. She’s known as a go-to kid-lit expert for writers, editors, and reporters. When Maurice Sendak died last week, she was interviewed on television. She ended the week as a…
Daisy Hickman: Interviewer and Reviewer (of Jonathan Franzen's The Discomfort Zone)
There’s an art to interviews. First of all, it helps to be a great observer and listener and to know something about the person and subject under inspection. Most of all, it helps to care. Daisy Hickman fits that bill perfectly. Last week she placed her questions and my answers on her great blog Sunny…
Toni Morrison Turns Back Memoir Contract
By almost any standard, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison has led an extraordinary life. I’d love to read the story only she could tell about any segment of this story: born 1931 into a working class family in Lorain, Ohio; educated at Howard and Cornell Universities; taught at various universities (the last being Princeton); an editor…
Jane Fonda's Popular TED Talk: An Unintended Case for Memoir
Are you 30 or older? If so, you need to watch this talk. If you don’t have 19 minutes now, bookmark this post for later and just read some of the quotes under the embedded video below. It could change your life. The first act in life occurs roughly from conception to age 30. The…
Chinaberry Sidewalks: Another Excellent Crazy Childhood Memoir by Rodney Crowell
Welcome new guest blogger, Richard Potter. Below you can learn more about him and more about an excellent memoir from singer/song writer Rodney Crowell. If you love memoirists Mary Karr, Rosanne Cash, and Jeanette Walls, you will love this one also. By Richard Potter Chinaberry Sidewalks is my first direct exposure to a great American…
Dialogue and Memoir: A Challenge, A Method, and Two Mentors
Like 497, 651 other people, I have “liked” David Sedaris on Facebook. You can too, if you click on his name. You can help his PR people to say he has half a million FB fans. Wow! Recently an interview with Sedaris appeared on his page that reminded me of something I am struggling with…
John Lithgow's New Memoir — Drama: An Actor's Education
Sometimes a memoir knocks you over even before you read all of it. Such is the case with John Lithgow’s Drama: An Actor’s Education. I’ve read about it, listened to the author, and read a chapter of it at the Diane Rehm Show website. Lithgow, who lives in New York, has made the rounds of the…
Leon Fleisher's Memoir My Nine Lives: Reviewed by Beverly K. Lapp
Introducing Beverly K. Lapp, Associate Professor of Music at Goshen College. Bev came into my life first as a student at Goshen College, then as a faculty colleague. She writes as well as she plays piano and teaches–which is saying a lot. Enjoy her review below. Fleisher, L. & Midgette, A. (2010). My nine lives: A…
Patti Smith Memoir Wins National Book Award: Read Lanie Tankard's Beautiful Review
Yea, Patti Smith, winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction for her memoir, Just Kids! Yea Women’s Memoirs! Yea, Lanie Tankard! Women’s Memoirs is a great place for readers and writers of memoir. I have featured the work of Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett, who maintain this great site, in past posts. We share a fabulous guest reviewer–Lanie Tankard (see…
Judging a Book By its Cover: Rosanne Cash's Composed
Your mother told you never to judge a book by its cover. Right? Well, your publisher isn’t likely to tell you that. And, admit it, when you go into a bookstore, you don’t follow Mom’s advice either. The cover of Rosanne Cash’s memoir Composed: A Memoir arrested me. The author is sitting on a bench…