What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright

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Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters.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 ]

Other news stories related to: "What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright"


Book Deals: Week of November 8, 2021

Knopf buys Paul Newman’s lost memoir, Hanover Square takes on a memoir by actor Tommy Dorfman, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Unpublished Paul Newman Memoir To Come Out Next Year

The untitled book will include the Oscar-winning actor’s thoughts on acting, directing, his 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward, drinking, politics and racing. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2021-11-03 17:41:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Paul Newman’s memoir—which he started writing in the 80s—will finally be released next fall.

If you’re like me and have a deep appreciation and love of classic Hollywood, then you’ll be delighted to hear that Knopf plans to publish Paul Newman’s memoir in the fall of 2022. The actor, who died in 2008 at the age of 83, began working on his memoir in the 1980s; according to the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-11-03 14:46:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Artwork for Ai Weiwei’s memoir broadcast across Piccadilly Circus billboard

Artwork has been displayed on the largest billboard in Europe, at Piccadilly Circus, as part of the campaign for Ai Weiwei’s 1,000 Years of Joys and Sorrows (Bodley Head). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-02 09:01:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For His Father and His Son, Ai Weiwei Is Determined to Leave a Trace

The Chinese dissident artist writes a memoir of family, exile and the inseparability of art and politics. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-30 09:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Cassandra Peterson finally drags Elvira, L.A.'s spookiest icon, out of the dark

Halloween queen opens up in memoir about alter ego Elvira, troubling encounters with Wilt Chamberlain and Tom Jones, and the relationship she hid for years. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-10-29 16:45:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Brian Cox torches Johnny Depp, Ed Norton, Michael Caine and more in new book

'Succession' star Brian Cox rips several beloved Hollywood stars in his memoir 'Putting the Rabbit in the Hat,' but also praises a few along the way. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-10-28 22:07:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Barnes & Noble Name Third-Annual “Book Of The Year” Finalists

8 books, ranging from memoir to pizza czar, history for young readers and lyrics by legends, are the finalists for B&N's Book of the Year. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-10-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


White Rabbit signs Lanegan's 'terrifying' account of Covid-19 fight

White Rabbit has signed a new memoir by Mark Lanegan, described as a “terrifying account” of Covid-19, which left the songwriter slipping in and out of a coma. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-27 22:09:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: Katie Couric is done pleasing people, as her new memoir proves

The TV news star's memoir, 'Going There,' is fearlessly, wildly entertaining, often emotional and sure to upend the idea that she wants your love. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-10-26 13:00:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Selma Blair's Mean Baby memoir coming from Virago in 2022

Virago will publish Mean Baby, the memoir of actress Selma Blair, exploring her career, struggles with addiction, life with multiple sclerosis (MS) and advocacy alongside her role as a mother.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-26 09:44:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Seven Dials signs memoir from Princess Diana's bodyguard Sansum

Seven Dials has scooped the "explosive" memoir from Lee Sansum, the bodyguard who protected Hollywood royalty and Princess Diana, to be written with Howard Linskey.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-26 06:48:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Michael Joseph signs Kacenberg's 'unique' Holocaust memoir

Penguin Michael Joseph has signed a “unique” Holocaust memoir about the unlikely friendship between a young Jewish girl and a stray cat by Mala Kacenberg. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-26 02:08:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Canongate scoops personal memoir from Thomson

Canongate has scooped a personal memoir from Scottish writer and visual artist Amanda Thomson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-24 15:10:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Donald Antrim’s ‘One Friday in April’ is a vital book about mental illness and recovery

Antrim’s memoir offers an unvarnished portrait of suicidal thinking and finding a way out. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘We Begin Today the Publication of a Supplement Which Contains Reviews of the New Books’

The New York Times Book Review first appeared on Oct. 10, 1896, but its roots can be traced back to its very first issue of The Times on Sept. 18, 1851. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-22 11:33:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: ‘Persepolis,’ by Marjane Satrapi

A memoir and a history of Iran’s turbulent 20th-century politics, one comic strip frame at a time. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 15:21:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: ‘The Liars’ Club,’ by Mary Karr

The Times would later call this 1995 memoir of a hardscrabble Texas childhood “one of the best books ever written about growing up in America.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 14:55:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Review: ‘The Woman Warrior,’ by Maxine Hong Kingston

This brilliant 1976 memoir evokes the author’s Chinese immigrant family and summons the ghosts who haunt it. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 14:55:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The First New York Times Book Review Best-Seller List

The best-seller lists as we know them today have their roots in the Aug. 9, 1942, issue — but the Book Review has been tracking sales for much longer than that. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-10-21 14:55:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this