Interviews Victoria Chang’s new collection, Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters. It prompts us to ask, with her, What composes a life and what makes of life art? What makes of memory history, and whose history, and how do we survive loss? We might expect the author of five books of poetry and two children’s books to incorporate the lyric in her first book of nonfiction, but Chang goes further. If her memories arrive at times as poetry, she denies them the protection of a poem. For instance, at the end of a letter that begins, “Do you remember those Fridays in gym class . . . ,” she realizes that memory may be “the exit wound of joy.” Such insights pierce us before we can register surprise. Elsewhere, she covers her mother’s mouth with three Mandarin characters in the photo on her certificate of naturalization, inserting her reservation into the official record along with her daughter’s grief. I reached out to Chang, moved by this book’s innovative form. “It was always my goal as a writer to be able to make whatever I want,” she told me via Zoom video hosted by the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University, which she directs. The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN Voelcker Award, a Sustainable Arts Foundation... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-05 19:50:39 UTC ]
In a cultural milieu that is increasingly recognizing the value of narratives that describe the experience of chronic pain and illness, Emily Wells’ memoir is a unique contribution. In some ways, A Matter of Appearance is not a memoir at all, though that’s where you’ll find it shelved in... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-06-06 11:05:00 UTC ]
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In the “brutally honest” memoir “Pageboy,” the actor recounts the fears and obstacles to gender transition, and the hard-won happiness that’s followed. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-06 09:00:19 UTC ]
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In The Race to Be Myself, the Olympian athlete will detail her battle for permission to compete as a woman with hyperandrogenismStormzy’s #Merky Books is to publish Olympian Caster Semenya’s memoir this year.South African athlete Semenya, whose book is titled The Race to Be Myself, was just 18... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-02 12:52:34 UTC ]
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For 17 books, Luis Alberto Urrea has highlighted the joys and sorrows of life along the U.S.-Mexican border, a territory which moves with its peoples, no matter the walls we build on the land and in our hearts. Through his memoir Nobody’s Son, novels like The House of Broken Angels, his essay... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-05-31 11:00:00 UTC ]
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"Zev's Los Angeles," a memoir by former L.A. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, covers an era when L.A. transformed radically — and does it really well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-29 13:00:43 UTC ]
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On May 24, actor and author LeVar Burton discusses the State of Banned Books with Times readers in Los Angeles. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-24 20:15:39 UTC ]
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Author Luis Alberto Urrea joins the L.A. Times Book club July 19 to discuss his new novel, "Good Night, Irene." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-24 14:00:39 UTC ]
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He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, best known for a scathing, dazzling trilogy of novels on money-saturated '80s London and the memoir "Experience," died Friday at 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-20 20:05:38 UTC ]
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The celebrated author of Money and London Fields, whose works defined the 80s and 90s literary scene, died of oesophageal cancer on Friday at his home in FloridaMartin Amis, the influential author of era-defining novels including Money and London Fields, and the memoir Experience, has died at... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 18:53:35 UTC ]
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Park Row bets on a debut novel about love and death, actor Ione Skye sells a memoir to Gallery, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Henry Threadgill’s memoir unfolds from his maddening wartime experience to his boundary-pushing musical career. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-19 02:17:52 UTC ]
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Henry Threadgill’s memoir unfolds from his maddening wartime experience to his boundary-pushing musical career. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-15 09:00:20 UTC ]
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Hua Hsu, author of the memoir “Stay True,” and Hernan Diaz, author of the novel “Trust,” discuss their books and their reactions to winning the Pulitzer Prize. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-05-12 20:24:06 UTC ]
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Mother’s Day was never a real holiday to my mother—more about marketing than raising me. No white carnations or special dinners for her. But that my memoir about her, Irma: The Education of a Mother’s Son, was published just before this Mother’s Day would make her smile. Likewise, that I have... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-12 13:21:24 UTC ]
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When I first became a single mother, I hid it from everyone, including myself. In my new book, The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays, I track the evolution of my relationship with motherhood, starting as a reluctant mother of two in a married household and ultimately ending as a single mother... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-05-12 11:10:00 UTC ]
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CNN reporter and West Baltimore native John Blake wishes he could give a copy of his new memoir to his mother for Mother's Day. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2023-05-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In “How Not to Kill Yourself,” a memoir on suicide, the author returns to the obsessions and self-obliterations that have recurred in his fiction and essays. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2023-05-10 19:01:05 UTC ]
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Wild speculation over a book known as ‘4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023’ has seen excited Swifties placing pre-orders. The bad news? It is likely not by herThe formula to a bestselling book is a mystery publishers have wrestled with for centuries. Now they may finally have their... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-10 03:53:07 UTC ]
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“Even though every atom in my body told me opening a shop would be an economic failure, I’d hoped it would save us.” Kelly McMasters on starting a bookstore to save her marriage. | Lit Hub Memoir 21 new books out today: Shakespeare! Eurovision! Revenge! | The Hub This month’s Lit Hub Asks: 5... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-09 10:30:21 UTC ]
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