Tag: memoir

a loaf of challah with old swedish handwritten text written overlaidT
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The Conversations We Weren’t Meant to Hear

"As both a nonfiction writer and novelist, I've discovered that these overheard conversations contain the most authentic speech, revealing their generational differences and cultural identities."
A photograph of orange California poppies (Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) overlaid with a fuzzy photograph of a fire burning high.G
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Gathering Speed and Complexity

A Primer for Craft in Literary Journalism: "In this understanding, craft has a bigger job to do than to enthrall or entertain, to make a true story read like fiction or feel like fantasy. In this understanding, creativity is part of the journalism, working in service to ideas, not in service of earning a label. We can’t separate the literary from the journalism at all."
two photos of a canal in amsterdam--one during the day, one during the night--overlayed on each other so that day or night evokes the memory of the other.W
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Writing on Memory, Considering When To Do So

"All genres have a central expectation, and that of memoir is wisdom," writes Kutlay in this meditation on history, memory, and writing about ourselves.
a photo of the front range mountains in snow with a photograph of Barrel cactus in bloom from Hovenweep National Monument, 05/1972 overlayed. Cactus flower is U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-2398C
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Circling Back: Return and Recursivity in Nature-Based Memoir

"All memory is a circling back to moments of earlier experience," writes Kayann Short as she evaluates the importance of return in ecobiography.
a series of overlapping photos of books on shelves that are not really readable because a page of a book is transparently overlaid2
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2024 Nonfiction Round Up

Here's what our contributors and editors loved in 2024 and what they're excited for in 2025.
the london skyline at night with a drawing overlaid: a triangle, a circle, a triangle with a square and star inside with the language that says "how it is" and a circle with a square and a star inside with the words "how it should be," and a key to the side that indicates the square means people and the star means objects.O
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Objects of Affection

"I can’t stop thinking about how objects hold me. How they alter the way I carry myself in a new room. Or hug me when surrounded by strangers."
small pink cluster flowers and bright green leaves overlayed onto 1940s and 1950s monster movie posters. You can make our some of the titles like "I was a teenage frankenstein," but they are not clearly visible.L
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Love the Creature

“And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper. I have an affection for it…But this is for myself; my readers..
A maroon rectangle with three overlapping images inset photograph of a brick wall and a green gate.N
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No Le Digas A Nadie. Don’t Tell Anyone.

“No le digas a nadie” is a threat that happens in almost every conversation I have with my mom. It’s synonymous with, “Don’t tell another..
a darkened image of a small wooden bridge over a creek with leaves on the groundA
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A Glimmer of Hope Among the Ruins

Shannon Tsonis talks with Kristine Ervin and reflects on her new book, Rabbit Heart, a memoir not unlike her own.
A collage of three different houses with words overlaid.P
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Prose and Connotations

"It seems like such a small thing to consider, with all of the other elements writers are asked to pay attention to, but I know I need to consider the specific connotations of my words," writes Jenny Hughes.