Conversations with Literary Ex-Cons: Jack Gantos
Jack Gantos discusses the sense of “delusional invincibility” he had in 1970s New York that led him to prison—and then on to a career as an award-winning children’s book author.
Posts by tag
memoir
547 posts
Mystery Maven Memoirs
In the wake of the destruction of precious cultural artifacts during the unrest in Iran and Syria, a quiet memoir from the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie, remembers the landscape…
The Rumpus Interview with Sarah Tomlinson
Author Sarah Tomlinson talks about ghostwriting, her father and childhood, the tradition of confessional writing, and her new memoir, Good Girl.
Fresh Comics #2: Transmissions from Beirut
What are the fundamental differences between telling your own story, telling the story of another, and telling your story about trying to understand someone else’s story?
Five Things About Ashley Ford
Blogger and writer Ashley Ford is profiled at the Indianapolis Star. She talks about her childhood in Indiana, writing a memoir, and more: We’re never going to see eye-to-eye on what’s OK…
A File Folder of Insults from Mom
I’m so mean-spirited. I wrote all my mother’s slights down. There were so many of them. So explains Sally Mann, photographer and author of recent memoir Hold Still, who goes…
How Soon Is Too Soon?
Leslie Jamison and Benjamin Moser tackle a long-debated question for the Bookends column: “Should There Be a Minimum Age for Writing a Memoir?”. They both agree there isn’t—you can read…
Vivian Gornick Does Not Like Your MFA
Jessica Gross interviewed Vivian Gornick for Longreads and they talked money, death, sex, MFAs, and other things that bore Gornick: It’s meaningless to me. I found, as the years went on, I…
The Ways of Hemingway’s Heart
A new account of Hemingway’s love life—which famously spanned four marriages and could be said to include complex relationships with a number of male confidants—is forthcoming from A.E. Hochner, one…
The Rumpus Interview with Shulem Deen
Shulem Deen talks about his memoir, All Who Go Do Not Return.
The Light of Sally Man
The Daily Beast interviews photographer Sally Mann about her new memoir and the overlap between writing and photography: Yes. They’re so fleeting but in both there is that raptus of…
The Rumpus Interview with George Hodgman
Editor and author George Hodgman talks about his new memoir, Bettyville, what makes for a good memoir, and returning to his hometown of Paris, Missouri from New York to take care of his aging mother.