Magical Memoir Moments

A Memoir Overview: Guest Blog post at Jane Friedman's blog

Depending on whom you ask—or what lens you apply—memoir is either a boomlet that burst or a timeless form just now coming into its own. The first lens, the literary lens, gets a fair amount of press attention. The second lens, a more hidden one, may need a little more magnification. While I believe memoir is…

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How to Write a Memoir

So you want to explore the fog of memory and write a memoir. Great! Like the IRS, I’m here to help. And so are many others. In fact, I am going to send you to them. Here is an eight-page booklet (.pdf) I wrote on the subject. What I say below will not duplicate the…

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Ben Yagoda's Memoir: A History on the Kindle–A Double Review

Ben Yagoda’s history of the memoir genre should make any other survey redundant. He’s performed a great service, not only to readers and writers but also to the new field of nonfiction/memoir studies. As promised previously, I will describe not only what I learned from reading the book but also from reading it on the Kindle. First,…

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Ben Yagoda on NPR: Great Overview of Memoir History

Two days ago I posted an NPR story summary with my own slant on it. It got picked up on www.expectingrain.com and reached hundreds of viewers, instantly becoming my most viewed post. That was exciting. Thanks, Expectingrain.com! Come to think of it, NPR stories on the arts almost always fascinate me, and I can tell…

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Why I am Loving My Kindle: And a Request for Readers to Report on Their Own E-book Experiences

A few weeks ago I posted a list of 18 books I had blogged about in the last six months. At the end of the list I included two books I have not yet read, pictured here. Today I got out my six-month-old Kindle and spent 20 seconds ordering the two books–Mary Karr’s Lit and Ben Yagoda’s Memoir:…

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