Essays and Workshops and Submissions, Oh, My...
Workshops from Literary Liberation, Narratively, Off Assignment, Margaret Juhae Lee, Alexander Chee; and calls for submissions from a forthcoming infidelity anthology, and Literary Liberation.
Welcome to Memoir Land—a newsletter edited by
, now featuring four verticals:Memoir Monday, a weekly curation of the best personal essays from around the web brought to you by Narratively, The Rumpus, Granta, Oldster Magazine, Literary Hub, Orion Magazine, The Walrus, and Electric Literature. Below is this week’s curation. ⬇️
First Person Singular, featuring original personal essays.
The Lit Lab, featuring interviews—The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire—and essays on craft and publishing. There are also weekly writing prompts and other exercises from, ahem, a New York Times bestselling ghostwriter of memoirs (that’s me) exclusively for paid subscribers.
Goodbye to All That, where I’m continuing to explore my fascination with the most wonderful and terrible city in the world, something I began doing with two NYC-centric anthologies, Goodbye to All That, and Never Can Say Goodbye.
*While I have you…I could use some more support in the form of paid subscriptions. If I’ve featured your work or that of your publication’s contributors…if you’re a publicists whose clients I’ve regularly featured…if you just want to help me keep doing ALL THIS and paying contributors, please consider becoming a paid subscriber…*
Memoir Land is on Substack Notes and BlueSky.
Essays from partner publications…
Natural Intelligence: Mushrooms Made the World What it Is (excerpted from The Universe In Verse)
by
“I grew up with Alice, and I grew up with mushrooms. Around the time I discovered Wonderland, my mother—my complicated mother oscillating between the poles of the mind—discovered foraging. Each weekend we would head into the forests of Bulgaria and spend long hours searching—for mushrooms, yes, but also for a common language between our two island universes.”
Like Any Story, a Fortune Begins as a Blank Page
by Lucianna Chixaro Ramos
“To kill time, Amy and I head to the nearest air-conditioned book store. There, we come across a book with origami tutorials. The origami book is what ignites her renewed desire to create a near infinite array of folded creatures and fortune tellers. Like any story, a fortune begins as a blank page. Once crafted, written, and read, it becomes infused with meaning.”
I Want You Back
by
“Three years older than me, my cousin Denise was popular and had more than a few friends on the block. The novelty of having a male relative visiting from New York City was just another reason for the girls to flock to her house daily. The only one who made an impression on me was a pretty, brown-skinned one with hot-combed straight hair, blue jeans, and white button-down shirt. Her name was Helen and from the moment we met, my first schoolboy crush was ignited. Unfortunately the only Michael she was interested in was Jackson.”
A Son, a Scientist, and the Secret of Bioluminescence
by
“He won’t move out or let anyone in. I don’t know how he’s survived that place. The same way, I suppose, that he survived falling off the roof at eighty-four, or the faltering heartbeat that convinced him to walk to the hospital. I picture a man walking through a gathering storm, the snow getting deeper with every step, the wind blowing harder. He only hears me if I shout.”
McDoone
by Dan Hofstadter
“Around the time that somebody walked off with all my Eric Dolphy albums I heard McDoone on my answering machine. Should I pick up? His power to disconcert was enormous, and I usually dodged his calls. He called often, resuming conversations discontinued six or seven years ago when we were still in high school, or, more often, conversations we’d never had in the first place. As the mood grabbed him, he would spout anecdotes, advice, reminiscences, philosophical musings, though rarely did I grasp what he was talking about. Bobby McDoone was somebody I’d always known, and like most old buddies he was part ally, part rival – but with a difference.”
Pep Talks That I Give to Authors That I Will Now Give to Myself
by
“In less than two weeks my new book comes out. People keep asking if I’m freaking out. Not really. Because even though I’m on the other side now, I’ve talked to hundreds of authors in and around their publication dates. And if they ever ask me for advice about how to stay even-keeled during this potentially stressful time, I have a whole list to recite to them. Now it’s time to take my own medicine.”
Essays from around the web…
Outlaw Mothers: Constance Debré in Love Me Tender
by
“first read Patricia Highsmith’s novels in the fall of 1994. I was twenty and living in a room in her house in Tegna, Switzerland, that was plastered with bookshelves full of her first editions, organized in chronological order. Pat was seventy-four and knew she was about to die; she had been, it was rumored, diagnosed with cancer or some other terminal disease. I was trapped in her world with her, trembling. She had weeks left to live and had spent so much time writing about how to get away with murder. I fantasized that she might try to kill me.” (h/t
)Twentynine Palms: U.S. Marines and the cost of always being faithful
by
“I spent a great deal of time exploring the town’s little-known paths and arroyos. In fact, I was spending so much time there while writing my book that friends in LA started calling me “Chuckwalla Deanne” and friends in Twentynine Palms simply called me “Deanne from Los Angeles,” in the fashion of naming people for a known characteristic, such as “Water District Judy” or “Mojave Bob.” The book is about two girls who were killed by a Marine after the Gulf War in that town.”
He Said Pussy, You Said Love
by
“You wanted your son to be a good man. You wanted him to act better than the others. You didn't want him to be a problem-for women or for anybody. Freedom felt key, embracing both his tenderness and his strength. You let him wear rainbow nail polish when he asked. You bought him the pink shirt he fell in love with. You held him when he cried, offering him words for his sadness. Mostly, he liked traditional "boy" things—which secretly drove you nuts—but you tried to embrace it all. How could you help your kid grow up to be a good person? Somehow, you knew the answer: love him for exactly who he was.
This Is My Face When You Won’t Stop Talking
by
“My mother had me at forty-one. An accident, is how she’d describe it. My siblings were already in their teens, and my mother herself had lost all interest in children’s play by the time I happened. So instead of ball-tossing or peekaboo, we talked. I talked. I talked, and sometimes I paused. At any of those pauses, my mother would just turn on her heels and walk out mid-story. Mommy, I’d call, puzzled, only to see her stop, sigh, look back at me and ask, Is there ‘mommy’ written on my butt? Then why do you call me every time I turn around?”
Bicentennial Bust: How I (Barely) Survived Catholic High School
by
“The Cincinnati Enquirer sports section ran a full page of letters denouncing me as a symbol of 'what’s gone wrong with the permissive modern liberal era' and so on…why would anyone take time out of their busy life to write a letter to the editor about some stupid teenager getting kicked off a sports team for smoking a cigarette? Right or wrong, at that moment I decided — or realized — that my future pointed somewhere beyond Cincinnati, Ohio.”
BUCKIN': Life Lessons I Learned while Riding Mechanical Bulls
by
“There is a common narrative around aging that women become invisible when they reach middle age, and frankly, I reject it. I am not going gentle into that good night. Like Beyoncé, I plan to only get better with age and life experience. Even if my socks are embarrassing.”
Lost in a Land That Was Once Ours
by Lujayn, translated by
“As we went our separate ways, the image of that little girl, her searching eyes and lost expression, was seared into my mind. She was searching for the mother she had lost in the faces of others. In the rubble of Gaza, amid all the devastation, we too pine for the country that was once ours.”
I was ghosted at 54. Here’s why I choose to think of it as empowering
by Kelly O’Connor
“In some stories, you might be the protagonist – in others, just a supporting role. But in all of them, we intertwine with people living in stories of their own…I’ll never know what happened with him, but I’ve decided my ghost story is a comedy, which feels empowering. I tell it with humor, and people always respond with laughter and empathy. Most importantly though, I’m hopeful again and looking forward to my next story.”
Zucchini Bread
by
“I am twelve years old and afraid of everything. Even the name of my street, Alcatraz Avenue, scares me. From the sidewalk, looking west on a clear day, I can see Alcatraz Island, a black lump rising out of the San Francisco Bay; The Rock, site of the maximum security prison until 1963.”
MAL À La TÊTE
by Ella Harrigan
“Outside the Headache Center, the sun was so bright I could hear it. A buzz. All around me, traffic. I stood at the bus stop, sucking on a plastic container of hospital apple juice. The light turned green, and suddenly, in front of me, my bus—”
🚨Announcements:
📢 Two New Workshops from :
1. “Your silence will not protect you” — Join our Sister Outsider Study Circle
As leaders, creators, and change-makers, we often think staying quiet keeps us safe. Lorde's Sister Outsider challenges this assumption with fierce wisdom that remains startlingly relevant.
Yomalis Rosario is facilitating this Study Circle (not a traditional book club) to engage with this essential text through feeling and deep reflection rather than academic analysis. This approach emphasizes embodied learning—seeing the text through the lens of our daily experiences and professional challenges.
Dates: Sundays, July 13-September 7, 1-2p ET. Price: $80. 8 seats left!
2. Geography of Joy
For the inquisitive and joy bound: Geography of Joy invites you to trace the sacred coordinates of your becoming. We're archaeologists of delight, mapping the places where we discovered our power, felt our beauty, found our sanctuary.
Four sessions. Personal joy-maps woven with community celebration. The corner store conversations. The park bench revelations. The dance floors that held our freedom.
We're not just writing stories—we're honoring the landscapes that shaped us, celebrating the communities that held us, resisting narratives that forget our joy.
Dates: Saturdays, July 19-Setpember 4, 11a-12:30p ET. Price: $175. 10 seats available.
📢 Academy Workshop: The Way They Were: Writing About Parents and Formative Relationships
Journalist, writer and educator Ladane Nasseri will lead The Way They Were: Writing About Parents and Formative Relationships, a two-hour craft seminar at Narratively Academy on Saturday, June 28, from 10am to 12pm ET.
📢 "Writing the Book Proposal" with Off Assignment
A book proposal must do the seemingly impossible: Pitch a project that doesn’t fully exist, while anchoring it in practical details like structure, audience, and timeline. It must function as sales document, project plan, and creative vision—all at once. How to craft such a thing? This five-week Masters’ Series course, led by essayist and journalist Raksha Vasudevan and featuring guest authors Elisa Gabbert, Anni Liu, Noelle Falcis-Math, and Lauren Markham, will unpack why proposals matter, how publishers evaluate them, and how this strange hybrid document can actually support the creative process rather than stifle it.
The course includes close readings, structured assignments, and sample proposals that led to book deals. By the end, students will have a working draft or detailed outline of their proposal (25–35 pages, not including sample chapters), and a deeper sense of how to shape it into something that excites agents, editors, and themselves. Open to writers at any stage, this course is designed to transform the proposal from a daunting publishing requirement into a generative, guiding force for the book to come. Scholarships are available, and asynchronous participation is welcome.
Dates: Mondays July 14 - August 11, 7-9 p.m. EST. Price: $400 (Memoir Monday readers can use code MEMOIR20 for 20% off)
📢 Eliciting Stories: how to talk to your loved ones about the past with Margaret Juhae Lee via Corporeal Writing
Workshop Sunday Aug. 17, 2025, 11 am to 1 pm (PST) over Zoom (a recording will be made available to all registrants for a limited period)
In this workshop, we will explore how to approach and speak to loved ones about the past, especially when painful memories are involved. Designed for writers in all genres, we will delve into creative approaches to opening up real (and imagined) conversations with family members, in particular, reticent elders—and even those who are no longer with us. A combination of writing exercises and practical advice from a seasoned journalist, this offering focuses on eliciting stories from those who might not want to remember, including ourselves.
📢 Craft Seminar: How To Write An Essay Collection with via The Shipman Agency
“This is a lecture class in two parts with suggested but not required readings and 6 writing prompts, 3 per class, that I have used to write essays for my next collection. There is no workshop component. Students will be sent a suggested reading list after registration. Reading the collections under discussion is recommended but not required.”
Two Sessions: Sundays, July 13 + 27 1:00-3:30pm ET; $200
📢 Call for Contributors to an Anthology about Infidelity
Tentative title: Stepping Out: Writings on Infidelity
Editors: Susan Ostrov Weisser, author of LOVELAND: A MEMOIR OF ROMANCE AND FICTION and Nan Bauer-Maglin, editor of GRAY LOVE and LOVING ARRANGEMENTS
This essay collection explores the enduring and complex issue of infidelity in romantic relationships, a topic that remains taboo and emotionally charged despite the evolving norms around love, commitment, and sexuality. The book will feature personal essays from those with direct or thoughtful insights into infidelity, whether as participants, victims, or observers. Analytic essays approaching the topic through psychological, sociological, historical, or literary lenses are welcomed. Reprints will be considered. Please send inquiries or a 1–2-page description to both Susan at weisser@adelphi.edu and Nan at Nan.Bauermaglin99@ret.gc.cuny.edu by August 31st. Be sure to include a short note about your previous writing, your profession, and any other relevant information about yourself.
📢 Call for Submissions for a Collaboration Between Memoir Land and Literary Liberation
Memoir Land and Literary Liberation will co-publish an essay series called “Writing A Liberatory Practice.” Rate: $150. For submissions guidelines, deadlines and more, visit Literary Liberation.
📢 Attention Publications and writers interested in having published essays considered for inclusion in our weekly curation:
By Thursday of each week, please send to memoirmonday@gmail.com:
The title of the essay and a link to it.
Your name and Substack profile link, if you have one, so I can tag you in the post.
A paragraph or a few lines from the piece that will most entice readers.
Please be advised that we cannot accept all submissions, nor respond to the overwhelming number of emails received. Also, please note that we don’t accept author submissions from our partner publications.
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