Elizabeth Wurtzel Made it Okay to Write ‘Ouch’ By Sari Botton Highlight Today’s memoirists and personal essay writers owe a debt of gratitude to the Prozac Nation author for rewriting an inhibiting rule.
‘I Was Trapped Forever In This Present Tense’: Carmen Maria Machado on Surviving Abuse By Hope Reese Feature “She was always afraid of my voice. That was the defining factor of our relationship — fear of what I would say and write and do. She’s afraid of … the narrative that I possess.”
A View of the Bay By Aimée Lutkin Feature A family’s losses after Hurricane Sandy didn’t come in the usual order or with the usual speed.
Carrying Histories of Protest By Longreads Feature Jaquira Díaz witnesses her father’s rebellious fight for a better life, and her homeland’s fight for its place in the world.
‘I Was Being Used in Slivers and Slices’: On Feminism at Odds With Evangelical Faith By Jane Ratcliffe Feature “I wasn’t unified in my being. I wasn’t able to bring my whole self to the table,” says Cameron Dezen Hammon about her life as a worship leader for an evangelical megachurch.
These Boys and Their Fathers By Don Waters Feature Trying to form some connection to the father who abandoned him, an outdoorsman surfs the California beach where his father grew up, while looking for answers in the autobiography his father left behind.
‘People Can Become Houses’ By Danielle Jackson Feature In her debut memoir, Sarah Broom builds her “obsession” with her family home — destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina — into a story of how families decide who they are, how they got here, and how they reconstruct themselves over and over again.
My Love Affair with Chairs By Longreads Feature Chairs the world over have loved me, and I love them all back.
‘The Survivor’s Edit’: Bassey Ikpi on Memory, Truth, and Living with Bipolar II By Naomi Elias Feature Bassey Ikpi discusses writing about mental illness. “I could count on the morning. It became the thing that existed without my input… without determining whether or not I was worthy of it.”
Looking for Carolina Maria de Jesus By Tari Ngangura Feature For a brief period in the 1960s, the Afro-Brazilian author of the memoir “Child of the Dark” was one of the most well-known writers in the world.
In the Country of Women By Susan Straight Feature Amid badass women and endless stories, a young California writer comes of age in the orange groves as the Golden State comes into its own.
‘If Any of My Old Friends Are Reading This, It Is Okay Out Here.’ By Jacqueline Alnes Feature Amber Scorah talks about committing the one unforgiveable sin: believing, then not believing.
Wonder Woman By Longreads Feature Of all the genes parents pass down and values they instill, how does one take hold so much stronger than the others?
I’m Writing You from Tehran By Longreads Feature A French-Iranian journalist writes a letter to her grandfather about the ten years she spent in Iran, trying to make sense of her identity and a country living very different public and private lives.
‘Imagine Us, Because We’re Here’: An Interview with Mira Jacob By Naomi Elias Feature Mira Jacob talks about why she wrote a graphic memoir, and why she is tired of performing her pain in order to help white people understand racism.
Memoirs of a Used Car Salesman’s Daughter By Nancy A. Nichols Feature Hearses, limousines, Detroit’s newest model — cars marked many milestones in Nancy Nichols’ life of heartache and family deception.
Even the Dogs By Longreads Feature In an excerpt from her memoir, T Kira Madden recalls a harrowing adventure with her parents.
Hanif Abdurraqib on Loving A Tribe Called Quest By Jonny Auping Feature “I wasn’t interested in writing the definitive book on A Tribe Called Quest. I was trying to write the definitive book on a single arc of fandom.”
Pam Houston on Coming Clean, Climate Change, and ‘Writing Deeply Into the Grasses’ By Kim Steutermann Rogers Feature Pam Houston’s new memoir is an ode to her beloved ranch, but also deals directly with the harrowing moments of childhood abuse that her fictional characters have been living through for years.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee By Longreads Feature “Our cultures are not dead and our civilizations have not been destroyed. Our present tense is evolving as rapidly and creatively as everyone else’s.”
Insomnia: To Pursue Sleep So Hard You Become Invigorated By the Chase By Longreads Feature Insomnia is not just a state of sleeplessness, a matter of negatives. It involves the active pursuit of sleep. It is a state of longing.
Father of Disorder By Jessica Wilbanks Feature One woman finds insight into her father’s rage in the scientific concept of entropy.
Nic and David Sheff on ‘Beautiful Boy’ and Telling Addiction Stories Responsibly By Zachary Siegel Feature Nic and his father David Sheff’s memoirs about grappling with Nic’s addiction are the basis for the new movie ‘Beautiful Boy.’ It was important to them that the movie communicate what addiction really is — an illness.
Raised by Hip-Hop By Juan Vidal Feature In hip-hop and skateboarding, one young man finds an outlet for his aggression.
Greens By Longreads Feature “’I’m good,’ I told him. I didn’t tell him I was running eleven miles, playing two hours of ball, and eating eight hundred calories a day.”
‘As a Grown Woman, I Still Have To Continuously Learn To Say No’ By Wei Tchou Feature Memoirist Tanya Marquardt talks about consent, trauma, and investigating our memories in the age of #MeToo.
‘I Didn’t Have the Language to Call It Racism’: An Interview with Nicole Chung By Victoria Namkung Feature Nicole Chung wants white parents of transracial adoptees to grapple more candidly with the reality of racism in America.
It’s Time to Stop Painting Joyce Maynard as an ‘Oversharer’ Already By Sari Botton Highlight In the #metoo era, there’s no excuse for continuing to deride women like Maynard who speak out about their experiences with men who had much more power.
Falling in Love with Chicago at Night: An Interview with Jessica Hopper By Ashley Naftule Feature In “Night Moves,” Jessica Hopper is 80% on her bike and 20% at a show, memorializing a young adulthood spent in just one of “a million Chicagos” — but one that shaped a wide network of artists and writers.
Hiking With Nietzsche By John Kaag Feature An infirmed Friedrich Nietzsche hiked the Swiss Alps to work on his writing. Philosopher John Kaag followed Nietzsche’s trail, taking the great thinker’s ideas out of his books and into the world.
