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Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters.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 ]
On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Stephanie Danler, author of the 2016 bestselling novel Sweetbitter, and now the memoir Stray, just published by Knopf. In the book, Danler poignantly tackles a variety of issues, including: the destructive nature of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-21 17:00:57 UTC ]
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Summer reading: Author Walter Thompson-Hernández joins Times readers June 24 to discuss the legacy of "The Compton Cowboys." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-21 14:00:06 UTC ]
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"Hollywood Park," a new memoir from the frontman for the Airborne Toxic Event, recounts his childhood in L.A.'s Synanon cult — and his recovery. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-20 16:33:40 UTC ]
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Hutchinson has acquired Bananarama's memoir Really Saying Something in a "strong" six-figure deal, and will publish this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-20 05:26:25 UTC ]
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Emily St. John Mandel, author of the pandemic bestseller "Station Eleven," discusses her novels with the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-19 23:03:32 UTC ]
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Stephanie Danler’s memoir Stray invites us to look closely at our own life: our family dynamics, our loss, our trauma, and the moments of happiness that still exist within that fragile frame. With deep introspection and stunning prose, Danler tells us about the years she spent after writing her... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-19 11:00:55 UTC ]
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Naomi Fry on “Miss Aluminum,” a new memoir by Susanna Moore, who is known for her 1995 thriller “In the Cut.” Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2020-05-19 10:00:00 UTC ]
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A selection of recent books of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-19 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK has acquired Kate MacDougall's story of the dog walking business she founded in her mid-twenties, London’s No1 Dog Walking Agency. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-19 04:39:15 UTC ]
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Among the big deals this week are a new book by rapper Gucci Mane, a memoir of addiction and recovery by a politician and her son, and a nonfiction book by the cocreator of Showtime’s Billions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The juiciest fashion memoir of the year is out. But is it a tell-all, a tragedy or a harbinger of things to come? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-14 15:03:20 UTC ]
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You know what they say: April showers bring May books. Here’s today’s brand-new batch coming to (virtual) bookstores near you. Consider this a friendly reminder that it’s never a bad idea to support your local indie. * Samantha Harvey, The Shapeless Unease (Grove Press) “This memoir churns deep... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-12 13:45:17 UTC ]
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Readers thought Stephanie Danler's debut novel, "Sweetbitter," was autobiography. The reality, in her memoir "Stray," is far more painfully dramatic. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-05-12 13:00:01 UTC ]
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On this episode of Personal Space: The Memoir Show, Sari Botton interviews Maggie Downs, author of the memoir and travelogue, Braver Than You Think: Around the World On the Trip of My (Mother’s) Lifetime about the year she spent traveling around the world, fulfilling many of her mother’s unmet... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-11 18:38:48 UTC ]
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“We are only sheltered from tragedy”, he writes in “Inventory”, “by the thin ice that we call time.” Continue reading at The Economist
[ The Economist | 2020-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On this episode of Sheltering, Maris Kreizman speaks with Mikel Jollett about his memoir, Hollywood Park. Hollywood Park is about Jollett’s experience growing up in a cult, and his escape and fallout from the childhood trauma he experienced. He talks about believing his life was normal as a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-05-08 19:00:54 UTC ]
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The author of “Sweetbitter” has written a memoir about the pain she’s suffered from — and caused to — those she’s loved. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-05-08 09:00:05 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Hashtag Press will publish Jess Impiazzi's memoir Silver Linings. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-07 17:36:02 UTC ]
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IT IS ONLY IN the second half of Ellen O’Connell Whittet’s poignant and exquisite memoir about ballet (and other causes of female pain), What You Become in Flight, that it dawns on the reader — or on this reader, at least — that she’s invoking the word “flight” in two senses: the balletic sense... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-05-07 17:00:08 UTC ]
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“Recollections of My Nonexistence,” a memoir by the feminist icon, is both revealing and not. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-07 15:00:00 UTC ]
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