memoir

In 1969, at the age of 41, Maya Angelou, who died on May 28 at age 86 in Winston-Salem, N.C., published  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was a memoir of her childhood and adolescent odyssey from Arkansas to California, during which she survived a cascade of traumatic events, including being…

Calling all writers: Could you be the next Frank McCourt, Elizabeth Gilbert or Jeanette Walls - all authors of bestselling memoirs?

Three years ago, magazine writer Katie Hafner's family was in turmoil. Her mother was 77 and at loose ends, cast adrift by her husband's incipient dementia (he had moved back in with his family of origin).

"Most people think I'm a hard-drinking slut, but really I'm an angel of mercy."

Last month I revisited my alma mater, Smith College in Northampton, Mass., to moderate a panel called "Empowering Young People Through Stories."

Abigail Thomas has a thoughtful piece up on AARP on writing a memoir, saying, "To write a memoir, cultivate the habit of listening to yourself." Not only does she talk about her own personal journey towards and through memoir-writing, but gives us inspirational advice on how to tune into our inner writer, step by step.