Why We Write about Ourselves

In the voices of twenty landmark memoirists--including New York Times bestselling authors Cheryl Strayed, Sue Monk Kidd, and Pat Conroy--a definitive book on the craft of autobiographical writing, indispensable for amateur and professional writers alike. For fans of Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir and Judith Barrington's Writing the Memoir, this follow-up to editor Meredith Maran's acclaimed writers' handbook, Why We Write, offers inspiration, encouragement, and pithy, practical advice for bloggers, journal-keepers, aspiring essayists, and memoirists. Curated and edited by Maran, herself an acclaimed author and book critic, these memoirists share the lessons they've learned through years of honing their craft. They reveal what drives them to tell their personal stories and examine the nuts and bolts of how they do it. Speaking frankly about issues ranging from turning oneself into an authentic, compelling character to exposing hard truths, these outstanding authors disclose what keeps them going, what gets in their way, and what they love most--and least--about writing about themselves.

Meredith Maran is the author of fifteen books, including Why We Write and Why We Write About Ourselves. She's a book critic and essayist for newspapers and magazines including the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Salon.com. The recipient of fellowships at the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo and a member of the National Book Critics Circle, she lives in Los Angeles.