Memoir Monday Roundup 10/13/25 (No More Futzing Around With Clever Titles...)
Workshops from Southern Vermont Writers' Conference, Off Assignment, Literary Liberation, a Best American Essays; some writing accountability clubs; a survey; and a couple of calls for submissions.
Welcome to Memoir Land—a newsletter edited by Sari Botton, 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 continue 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…*
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Essays from partner publications…
In the Forests of Gombe
by Jane Goodall
“It was in the forests of Gombe that I sought healing after Derek’s death. Gradually during my visits, my bruised and battered spirit found solace. In the forest, death is not hidden—or only accidentally, by the fallen leaves. It is all around you all the time, a part of the endless cycle of life. Chimpanzees are born, they grow older, they get sick, and they die. And always there are the young ones to carry on the life of the species. Time spent in the forest, following and watching and simply being with the chimpanzees, has always sustained the inner core of my being. And it did not fail me then.”
Every New Scar Reminds Me of the Last
by Joshua C. Gaines
“I am forty-two and have all the answers. They come to me, one after the other, a quick succession of midlife wisdom without doubt, a clarity of purpose I call my midlife opportunity. What I want is as clear to me now as what I wanted at fourteen. I want to go back, and try smarter. And so, I am also fourteen and also have all the answers, a confidence laced in a redo attitude of “if I knew then what I know now,” because this time I do.”
Tracy Johnston: The Pre-Obituary
by Jon Carroll
“Two years ago Tracy was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. After a period of denial made possible by today’s amazing cancer drugs, I decided I wanted to let people know about this remarkable woman. So here’s a pre-death obit for Tracy Joos Johnston.”
Human Error Is the Point: On Teaching College During the Rise of AI
by Sean Cho A.
“Some mornings I forget my lanyard. Or the bathroom on the third floor is locked for reasons no one can explain. Or I bring handouts for the wrong section. I get distracted mid-lecture trying to remember the word for that thing that’s almost a synecdoche. Someone raises their hand to ask a question I don’t know how to answer, and I say the wrong thing. Or I say the right thing but too quickly, and someone flinches and I realize—too late—it wasn’t the question that mattered but the silence behind it.”
Essays from around the web…
The Original Brooklyn Selfie King
by David Kamp
“What’s striking about Eli’s selfies is how much they rhyme with today’s. His intent, at least where these photos were concerned, was not artistic. He was not out to create a self-portrait à la Rembrandt or Frida Kahlo. He was certainly capable of doing so; on my office wall hangs an elegant ink-wash self-portrait in which he sits at his desk at the Raritan Arsenal, reviewing page layouts and debonairly holding a cigarette. No, in his photographic selfies, Eli Fuchs was simply a young Brooklyn dude trying to create an idealized image of himself—to picture himself as a star.”
About That Time I Pushed a Car Uphill
by Joel Peckham
“Had I been thinking clearly, I would have simply called a tow truck. Every Christmas my father gifted my sisters and me AAA memberships, and this was the age of smartphones. Though my phone’s battery was low, Darius had his, which is how we learned we were only a little over a mile from a gas station. ‘OK,’ I told him, loosening my tie and undoing the top two buttons of my shirt. ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.’ Five minutes later my son was sitting in the driver’s seat with a holy-crap-what-are-we-doing expression he’d perfected in the past five minutes.”
At 95, My Grandmother Is My Mirror — and I Don’t Know How to Feel About It
by Kristina Kasparian, PhD
“I grew up being fed this lie: that there’s no increment between all and nothing. Now, carrying my own decades of chronic illness and chronic grief, I’ve been struggling to override my programming.”
Objectives #5: Put It On Again: Why I Love My Genesis Pin from Seventh Grade
by Vincent O'Keefe
“Sadly, only one of my pins has survived from those days, but that scarcity has increased its sentimental value. The pin features the cover of the Genesis album titled Duke that came out in 1980. In addition to the album’s hit single ‘Misunderstanding,’ another hit was ‘Turn It On Again,’ a song about television addiction. Oddly, when I hear the song today, it seems applicable to our cultural addiction to social media. Though a reboot in today’s 24/7 media-saturated environment might need a title like ‘Turn It Off for Once.’”
How the Government Ate My Name
by Giovanni Garcia-Fenech
“If your family immigrated to the United States in the 19th century and/or you took middle-school social studies in the States, you’ve probably heard that officials at Ellis Island often changed newcomers’ names, either because they couldn’t spell them or because they wanted to make them sound more American. In fact, authorities in New York never actually wrote down anyone’s name, they just checked each immigrant against the ship’s passenger list, which would have been compiled by employees of the steamship companies. That means that your grandpa Szymańczyk turned into Simmons before he even set foot on the boat. My case, though, is less about forced reinvention than about bureaucratic drift. Names are bearers of our identity, history, and culture, but a lot can happen when they are run through the machinery of another culture’s bureaucracy.”
My Relationship with The Red Sox? It’s Complicated.
by Roberto Scalese
“I’ve always had a weakness for Fenway in September, writes Roberto Scalese, whose relationship with the Red Sox went south after they traded Mookie Betts. When I heard you may even make the playoffs this year, I couldn’t help but wonder: was I wrong to call things off?”
The Powerful Play Goes On
by Abigail Oswald
“If one thing unites all the characters across all the stories I wrote when I was fifteen, it’s the search for answers. A photographer tries to unravel the mystery of a neighborhood boy’s death; an amnesiac searches for her past in the memories of other people. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel like I was searching, too. There was always a mystery. Maybe writing helps me look; maybe writing is how I try.”
Do Clothes Make the Man?
by Jerry Portwood
“Where’s Number Nine?’ he’ll ask on a cold night, snuggled up on the sofa. He puts it on, and everything feels right. The next morning, I’ll wear it on as I make scrambled eggs for breakfast. Our shared identity. It’s been eight years since we had to cleave our closet. Somehow, we’ve made it work. Sure, it’s been rough at times, but it turns out the problem of separation isn’t just about who wears what. It’s more about remembering how to fit ourselves together after extended periods of being apart.”
🚨Announcements:
📢 Earlybird Registration Has Begun for the Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference, at Which I Am Leading a Workshop…
For the second time, I’ll be leading a personal essay writing workshop at The Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference.
*There are some scholarships available, too.
The Yvonne Daley Memorial Scholarship for a Vermont writer. This scholarship covers the conference fee.
The Third Act Scholarship for a writer 65+ which covers the conference fee.
The Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Scholarship which is a full scholarship covering the conference fee, lodging, and travel for a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Band to come and write in their ancestral homelands.
NEW! Emerging Voices Scholarship which covers the conference fee and lodging for an early-career writer from a community that is traditionally underrepresented in publishing.
The scholarship application deadline is November 1, 2025. Applicants will be notified by mid-December.
📢 Final Call for Literary Liberation’s Years That Ask workshop, plus Never Write Alone Clubs.
Experiment with narrative, lyric, and persona forms through generative exercises with María Fernanda in her workshop, Years That Ask. Saturday, October 18 on Zoom; 20 seat available; $150
Also, each week Literary Liberation hosts three co-writing rooms to help you start or stay on track with your writing, your reading, or whatever you need to use the time for. Do it in community.
Every Wednesday and Thursday we host hour-long WRITE NOW Co-working sessions, starting at 4p PST / 7p EST. FREE! Open to subscribers only.
Every Friday Shawna Ayoub hosts her hour-long Writer’s Recovery Room at 12p EST.
📢 “Writing Desire” with Off Assignment, Led by Steve Almond, with guest authors Camille Dungy, Megha Majumdar, Sarah Manguso, & Anthony Doerr
How do we turn internal obsession into a narrative that resonates broadly? What’s the role of restraint when writing with passion? Storytelling is neither a mystical pursuit, nor a technical one. It boils down to desire. The reader is asking two essential questions when they pick up a story. First: Who do I care about? And second: What do they care about? If you make the reader shoulder what Sarah Manguso calls “the burden of hope,” they will follow you anywhere.
This intensive (but free-wheeling) series will focus on desire as an engine of literary creation. Over the five sessions of this course, we’ll focus on four potent forms of desire: obsession, sex, unrequited love, and friendship. Each week, we’ll look at examples—fiction, creative nonfiction, even some poetry—by a variety of writers that show how these subjects drive stories deeper into truth: Camille Dungy, Megha Majumdar, Sarah Manguso, & Anthony Doerr.
Dates: Mondays: November 3 - December 1, 7 - 9 p.m. EST; Price: $400 (Memoir Monday readers can use code MEMOIR20 for 20% off)
📢 From Best American Essays Editor: The Art of the Essay
Join Kim Dana Kupperman & Baron Wormser for a weekend of discussing, contemplating, and generating essays, November 14-16, 2025
📢 Call for Submissions from Raising Mothers: When the Water Was Gone — Hurricane Katrina, 20 Years Later
August marked the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It marked a turning point in my own life on what I can bear witness to.
Our newest call, and the first special call for year ten at Raising Mothers, WHEN THE WATER WAS GONE aims to examine it all—the personal, the political, the betrayal, the hope, the determination. Perhaps you were young, a budding adult. Perhaps you have stories that were passed on to you. While we are interested in first person stories, we’re also interested in conversations and stories of what that moment kindled in you, what flame you’ve borne since. Share your stories. All accepted work will be paid. Submissions close December 15.
This call is open exclusively to writers of the global majority.
📢 Writing Co-Lab’s Accountability and Coaching Program
This October, Writing Co-Lab launches The Lab, an online community accountability and coaching program designed to spark your creativity, draw you to the page, and keep you writing. For $50 a month (or $90 for two months), you get access to a generative Power Hour with Jiordan Castle, a mentoring kvetch sesh about writing and publishing with Brian Gresko called The Creative Accomplice, daily silent writing groups, a community of writers on our Discord server, and weekly emails of encouragement. We'll have occasional events and open mics as well. The Lab is a place to experiment and play, form friendships with other writers, and develop your ideas from inception to draft.
📢 Dr. Jamie Marich Seeks Memoirists to Interview for Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice
Dr. Jamie Marich announces her collaboration with a new publisher on their next project, Memoir Writing as Spiritual Practice. Good Faith Media and their Nurturing Faith imprint is supporting Jamie in her transition to more spiritually-focused writing and creating. The aim is for a later 2026 or early 2027 release. The program where Jamie is currently attending Interfaith seminary, the Chaplaincy Institute, is also allowing her to count the writing of this book for a large portion of their internship project.
📢 Call for Submissions for “Freedom Ways,” a Collaboration Between Memoir Land and Literary Liberation
Memoir Land and Literary Liberation co-publish an essay series that is now called “Freedom Ways.” Rate: $150. For submissions guidelines, deadlines and more, visit Literary Liberation. Here are the first two essays in the series:
📢 At Open Secrets: Paid Call for Submissions for Personal Essays by Humans About the Human Experience (No AI Writing Allowed)
We are looking for original, unpublished 1,000-2,500-word personal essays that explore transformative, powerful human experiences, especially those that are often kept secret or hidden.
We pay $50 for general essays. Deadline: November 30, 2025 (ET); earlier submissions have the best chance of acceptance.
Object-ives is a new column featuring rotating authors that will run on Fridays in our Stuff-ed section for flash nonfiction essays of 500-999 words about an object you own or have owned in the past. We pay $25 for Object-ives essays.
📢 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.
📢 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.
Notebooks! Shirts! Mugs! Get Your Memoir Land Merch!
Thanks very much for including me and my Dead Poets Society essay!! :)
Thanks for including Vincent O’Keefe’s Genesis pin flash essay!