The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire in Review...
A look at a handful of interviews in the series.
Readers,
Today’s Memoir Land Author questionnaire was delayed, and so I thought I’d take this opportunity to point you to some earlier entries in the series. Here are nine of the 43 interviews that have been published so far. I love the breadth of responses. I find them all so revelatory and useful. I hope you enjoy them! -
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #32: Sadiya Ansari
"I wanted to create a strong narrative that felt seamless, rather than what I might do in journalism — quoting people, and writing in a more detached way."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #12: Carvell Wallace
"What if you could document someone’s recovery from trauma by first listing the traumas then writing about every day after that which marked a turning point in their recovery?"
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #33: Jess H. Gutierrez
"Since I was very little there has been nothing I love more than making people laugh with something I write or say."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #18: Suzanne Scanlon
"I’m always surprised when I’ve managed to communicate something of my experience because for so long, I felt it was impossible to communicate."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #38: Charles Jensen
"At the end of the day, if you feel called to write, you absolutely should. So many people could be moved, helped, or entertained by your book. Don’t deny them that opportunity."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #3: Leslie Jamison
"I always conceived of this as a book about simultaneity—the way life is often pointed a few ways at once; in this case, toward love and toward grief."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #4: Margaret Juhae Lee
"I knew I had the story of a lifetime in my grandfather’s story. It just took me awhile to understand how to write it."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #23: Farah Naz Rishi
"The memoir became a culmination of all my thoughts and grief and desperate attempts to find hope in all the wild weeds and thorns of my own depression."
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #6: Annabelle Tometich
"To understand my mother, I first had to understand myself and the tangled roots from which I grew."
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