Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature

In this helpful collection, 20 authors address the challenges of personal writing, from self-reflection to respecting the feelings of the other people in one’s life. Maran (My Lie), an accomplished memoirist herself, has selected a diverse group of contributors to speak from their personal experiences while also reflecting on memoir as a genre. Edwidge Danticat describes the year of grief that compelled her to write her first memoir, A.M. Homes grapples with her distaste for personal writing, and Cheryl Strayed ruminates on the repercussions of her runaway success. Each contributor’s section has four distinct components: Maran’s introduction to the writer’s themes and works, a biographical CV, the writer’s thoughts on memoir, and bullet-pointed items of “wisdom for memoir writers.” These writers differ greatly in their approach to a delicate and dangerous art. Meghan Daum decided to supplement what was (in her opinion) an unremarkable life story by tying it to larger themes; Ishmael Beah, a onetime child soldier from Sierra Leone, was forced to defend his memoir’s veracity. But in the end, they all agree that they write about themselves because they have to. [em](Jan.) [/em]