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Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters.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

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This Week's Bestsellers: August 31, 2020

Glennon Doyle’s memoir ‘Untamed,’ which had its best print sales since its pub week in March, is the #3 book in the country. Plus ‘Live in Love’ by Lauren Akins, wife of country singer Thomas Rhett, is #8 in the country, and seminal L.A. punk band Bad Religion gives fans permission to ‘Do What... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
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August paperback releases: 14 books to read now

Erin Morgenstern’s “The Starless Sea” and Jill Biden’s memoir are among the top picks. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Watch Brit Bennett discuss her bestselling novel, 'The Vanishing Half'

Brit Bennett brings her bestselling novel, "The Vanishing Half," to L.A. Times Book Club readers. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

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Nora Waln: Quaker journalist whose memoir tried to understand the Nazis

The American journalist witnessed the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. Her nuanced approach offers clues about reporting a polarised society. Continue reading at The Conversation

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7 Books About Being Young and Messy in New York

My memoir is not unique. But only in the sense that my story unfolds with New York City as the backdrop, where so many other stories have unfolded and will continue to unfold long after I’m gone. That’s the beauty of this multilayered city: it unravels you, and no one’s unraveling is alike. Yes,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

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Windmill pre-empts naturalist's 'powerful' memoir in 24 hours

Windmill has signed Sally Huband's non-fiction debut, the story of a woman who combs Shetland beaches to find her place, in a 24-hour pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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A Road Trip With One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Writers

“Borges and Me,” a memoir by Jay Parini, recounts a young poet’s travels with Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine master. Continue reading at The New York Times

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Sceptre pre-empts musician Mikel Jollett's memoir

Sceptre has pre-empted Hollywood Park by musician and writer Mikel Jollett, frontman of indie band The Airborne Toxic Event. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Trump won't leave office peacefully, his former lawyer Cohen claims in upcoming book

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Trump’s war on mail-in voting and the postal service

Yesterday, a pair of TV interviews crystallized just how the Trump administration is threatening the integrity of the election. On CNBC, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, cast “voting rights” as part of a “liberal-left wish list,” adding, “That’s not our game.” On Fox Business, Trump... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

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Jean Giorno: Fighting the Battle of Gay Liberation in a Homophobic World

“I don’t know what it means!” Andy Warhol bleats, in John Giorno’s Great Demon Kings: A Memoir of Poetry, Sex, Art, Death, and Enlightenment (out now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Warhol’s ditzy refrain is a mantra for the perpetually bemused, at once tragicomic and tongue-in-cheek. He says... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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Book Deals: Week of August 17, 2020

Among the week’s big deals are the acquisition of a #MeToo memoir by a French publishing exec, Sharon Stone’s memoir, and Andy Weir’s new novel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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The Delicate Balancing Act of Black Women’s Memoir

As Crown Publishing predicted, readers eagerly anticipated Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Autobiography and memoir are best selling categories because virtually everyone enjoys learning about the private life of public figures. In this case, many were curious about the woman who seemed to rise above... Continue reading at Electric Literature

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OWN IT! partners with Grime record label on Adenuga memoir

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Hodder acquires 'hopeful' memoir on choosing to parent alone

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired Liv's Alone by Liv Thorne, an "honest and hopeful memoir that captures the joy and the challenge that is parenting alone by choice". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-09 12:38:16 UTC ]
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Better titles for ex-Trump staffers’ memoirs.

Another day, another announcement of a memoir from a former Trump collaborator. This time, it’s Fiona Hill, an ex-advisor who testified in Trump’s impeachment inquiry, whose “views about the future of a polarized America” will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2021. I have nothing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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How a writer learned to open up about Dad's secret sex books

Sara Faith Alterman's "Let's Never Talk About This Again" is a memoir about strange family dynamics, love, grief and the benefits of finally opening up. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

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Dissecting Pain: An Interview with Alisson Wood

It would be easy to summarize Being Lolita as a memoir about a toxic, exploitative relationship between a high school English teacher and his student, and it is about that—but it’s about that in the way Walden is about a pond. Continue reading at The Paris Review

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Personal Space: Morgan Jerkins on Making Unexpected Family Discoveries

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