Memoir & Essay

"The older one grows, the more one likes indecency." — Virginia Woolf

Pain as Revolution: On Anne Boyer’s “The Undying”
Emily LaBarge reviews Anne Boyer's memoir/meditation on the personal and cultural experience of cancer.
Emily LaBargeOct 25, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
Everybody Hurts
Travis Rieder’s “In Pain” provides us with a bioethics that is not passively analytical, but peacefully agitative.
Andrew Benedict-NelsonOct 25, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Science & Technology
Picking Children’s Pockets: An Interview with Dina Nayeri
A personal story about fleeing the Iranian Revolution is also an indictment of Western immigration policy.
Scott BurtonOct 17, 2019
“Before I Began”: On the Wisdom of Not-Knowing
Emmalea Russo reviews Cynthia Cruz’s “Disquieting: Essays on Silence.”
Emmalea RussoOct 17, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Politics
Black No More?
Cinque Henderson looks at "Self-Portrait in Black and White" by Thomas Chatterton Williams.
Cinque HendersonOct 15, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Politics
A Great Spirit Trapped in a Tiny Life: On Cherríe Moraga’s “Native Country of the Heart”
Michael Nava visits “Native Country of the Heart,” a new memoir from Cherríe Moraga.
Michael NavaOct 4, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
Determined to See the Worst
Magdalena Miecznicka reviews Margaret McMullan's new memoir, "Where the Angels Lived."
Magdalena MiecznickaOct 3, 2019
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
Animating Tension: A Conversation with Leslie Jamison
Sarah Neilson talks to writer Leslie Jamison about her new essay collection, "Make It Scream, Make It Burn."
Sarah NeilsonOct 3, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
Going Toward What Glows: An Interview with Ben Folds
Emily Sernaker speaks to Ben Folds, musician and author of “A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons.”
Emily SernakerOct 1, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Music
Are Words the Enemy of Belonging? On Paul Kingsnorth’s “Savage Gods”
Ellie Robins hearkens to “Savage Gods” by Paul Kingsnorth.
Ellie RobinsSep 30, 2019
- Cultural Studies
- Memoir & Essay
“Writing Superficially Is Easy”: An Interview with J. Michael Straczynski
Alex Dueben talks to writer J. Michael Straczynski about his new memoir, "Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood."
Alex DuebenSep 21, 2019
- Comics
- Memoir & Essay
“Sometimes Women Do Like Women”: On Nancy K. Miller’s “My Brilliant Friends”
Nancy Miller’s deep exploration of female friendship, and the role of death in friendship, is a welcome and extraordinary addition to an impoverished genre.
Jenny McPheeSep 11, 2019
- Gender & Sexuality
- Memoir & Essay