This Week's Essays, Workshops, Submissions, and an Anthology Editing Chat on Thursday with Moi...
Workshops from Narratively, Anne Liu Kellor, Margaret Juhae Lee, and calls for submissions: Sinéad O’Connor, infidelity, Literary Liberation. Plus an ask-me-anything chat I'm holding August 7th.
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…*
📢 This Thursday, August 7th, from 4-5pm ET, I’m holding a quick-and-dirty “Ask Me Anything” session on the topic of editing anthologies. (I’ve published two enduring bestsellers, Goodbye to All That, and Never Can Say Goodbye. Eventually I’ll offer a workshop on this subject again, as I used to do regularly at Catapult, RIP.) It’s for paid subscribers only, and will take place in the Memoir Land Chat here on Substsack.
Essays from partner publications…
I Thought Being a Writer Would Help Me Make Sense of a Murder. I Was Wrong.
by Colleen Abel
“When a tragedy occurs, its effects move outward in concentric circles. Where you are in those circles, your distance from the center of the tragedy gives you certain unspoken rights in others’ eyes: the right to mourn, the right to tell the story. In the middle of that circle is the victim, the next ring out is family. In terms of emotional proximity, when Kira died, there was not much I could claim. I never met her…”
Some Day We’ll Look Back on This and It Will All Seem Funny
by David Begler
“As a 15-year-old middle-class kid from Long Island, I had zero experience with working-class struggles, street hustlers, fast cars, or the mysteries of the night. I wasn’t from the Jersey Shore or a blue-collar family, but I was close enough—Long Island had boardwalks and beaches. New York City was a train ride away. Springsteen’s music told me there was some promised land waiting for me beyond the confines of my suburban bedroom. A place where all my self-doubt would disappear and I’d exist comfortably in my own skin.”
The Unexpected Challenges of Dating After Cancer
by Maggie Hart
“My fingers lingered at my forehead, on my hairline. My wig gripped my scalp like a barnacle on a boat, the scratchy fibers relentlessly digging into my skin, one of many small, manageable pains I had in those days. It had to come off for what was about to happen, I knew that. There was really no way around it. Leaving it on was impossible — I had a profoundly humbling vision of the wig abandoning ship mid-action, slipping loose and tumbling onto the floor in a sad, sweaty heap. It had also been quite an investment — although I still do not understand why a bunch of fake hair costs multiple hundreds of dollars — so I didn’t want it to get hopelessly matted. And what if, in the throes of passion, he forgot that the hair was fake and tried to pull it…”
In Search of Light
by Maya Dobjensky
“Although I’ve dreamt of seeing the northern lights since I was thirteen, I become especially obsessed with them after my second consecutive miscarriage. It’s just before Christmas, on one of the darkest days of the year, and I lie in bed and will myself to sleep, hoping to hibernate until the days lengthen. When sleep does come, it’s not the dreamless lapse of consciousness I pray for. Instead, I dream of the Aurora, an emerald snake winding across the darkness of my mind. In my dream, there is no landscape, no earth beneath the sky, only light and the velvet black beyond it.”
Essays from around the web…
My Life in Protest
by Mark Jacobson
“For me, currently a 77-year-old New York grandpa who doesn’t quite bend in all the places he used to, the situation had its familiarities. Like so many of my famous, once dominant, now dwindling generation, I’d been to plenty of protests. It was what our crew did back in our youth, a coming-of-age ritual that for me began on an early morning in 1965 in front of the Flushing draft board.”
Why 2% of Me Wants to be Sick Again: A love song for Andrea Gibson.
by Garrett Kamps
“Like me, Gibson didn’t care for the idea of framing one’s cancer as a battle, and specifically didn’t want anyone saying that they ‘lost’ something when their time finally came. ‘Andrea was a winner today,’ wrote Gibson’s wife Meg Falley on the post announcing their death…It’s not that they didn’t appreciate a good fight, or that they planned to roll over to the disease. It’s that resistance, battling, was, to them, simply the wrong framing. To become obsessed with it—as so many with cancer do—is to potentially miss one of the greatest gifts the experience has to offer.”
Remembering Malcolm-Jamal Warner — and Theo Huxtable
by Dart Adams
“Ultimately, all of us Black boys watching identified with Theo. He was on prime time on NBC and his father was played by Bill Cosby, who often appeared on the cover of Ebony and Jet, as well as TV Guide and every major publication you could think of. Warner was the approximate age of my big brother Dave, and we were experiencing the year hip-hop broke into the mainstream.”
Stop the Car
by Scott Weaver
“With its first national highway, our country sought to overcome a kind of distance. A distance that separated people, made their lives less real to those who might never see them, regard them, ride through the streets of their hometowns and understand others’ lives in terms of their own. It was this distance the people of Plainfield felt as the country let its highway ruin, the distance they attempted to close by dumping an ex-president in the mud. They didn’t want him to fix their problems from afar. They wanted to force him into the here and now of their lives, destroy whatever it was that held him at such a remove…”
One and Done: The Many Reasons I Chose to “Only” Have One Child
by Jesse Sposato
“One sentiment that struck a chord with me came from a childless-by-choice friend who said that she still hung out with her friends with only one kid, but the ones with two or more, she barely saw. Another came while I was hanging out with my two old bandmates one afternoon, each with their two young kids in tow, and one of them shared that when you’re “one and done,” your life feels like it’s still yours and you’re making room for a kid in it, but with two, your world revolves solely around them. When I flat-out asked my friends if I should have a second, they spoke-yelled in unison, “No!” The scales were starting to tip.”
Your Wife Knows You Are Here
by Helene Kiser
“I don’t know this yet, but I will remember this moment always. Our heads pressed together, Michael’s face in my hands, breathing each other’s breath, inhale, exhale. If only I could have known, in the present tense of the moment itself, what future we were careening toward at breakneck speed, I would hold us here, like a photograph. Suspended. Permanent. Each time the image shimmers in my memory, it’s a gut punch knocking the wind out of me, bringing silent tears instantly, unbidden.”
Summer Child
by Lisa Renee
“Kathe is my neighbor — when you’re a child, the most important quality in a summer friend is proximity. She’s a little older, she has a pool, and her father takes us to the 7–Eleven for Coke Slurpees when the afternoon gets so hot that we begin to melt and complain. On Tuesday evenings, her parents drive us to Rustler Steak House where I get a rib-eye, well-done because of the crusty black char that we now know causes death. Carole King telling us it’s too late on the car radio, Kathe’s mom in the front seat holding up her Jiffy Pop hairdo, dad driving in retirement leisure.”
To Cage a Yellow Bird
by Sam
“To accept a new job at a major tech company, he had moved to New York just the year before, which meant that he was unencumbered by the social circles of gay, Asian men in their late twenties or early thirties here in the city and thereby had none of the accompanying baggage. Jim felt safe for me to see because there was practically no chance of him being acquainted with any of my exes. With him, I would be someone new; for him, I could be someone else. It's not that I'm exclusively into Asian guys: I have had (and will probably continue to have) dalliances with men of all backgrounds, but I learned through a decade of dating that mutual interest is most easily established when there exist shared experiences.”
I Thought I Knew What Would Happen When My Kids Finally Left the House. I Was Wrong.
by Alison Lowenstein
“When I was in my 20s and living with a friend, I’d leave cookies in our kitchen, and within a couple of days, the box was empty. For the few years we lived together, I assumed my roommate was sharing in the consumption. It wasn’t until I moved into my own apartment and chronicled the expediency with which I devoured a box of cookies that I understood she had never placed her hand in my “cookie jar.” Back then, I questioned her about my revelation, and she confirmed her distaste for cookies. Maybe I always knew this, but, for years, I validated my cookie binge by imagining she was helping me finish a box (or two).”
Living in a Sober Household at the Downfall of Humanity
by Shawna Ayoub
“I’m saying that alcohol opens my grief and dumps it out. I’d rather address my grief with a controlled pour. So I don’t drink. Neither does my partner. She was raised among alcoholics, so libations have a different mental impact for her. She also chooses not to engage.”
🚨Announcements:
📢 Anthology Editing Ask-Me-Anything Chat ThursdayAugust 7th at 4-5pm ET with me, Sari Botton, Editor of the Bestselling Anthologies Goodbye to All That and Never Can Say Goodbye…
Hey, everyone. I’ve just enabled the Substack chat function for paid subscribers to Memoir Land, and plan to start using it occasionally for popular topics .
Lately people have been asking if/when I might offer another anthology editing workshop like the popular one I used to lead at Catapult. (Several of my students went on to get anthology deals!) I am considering doing this in the fall or winter. For now, though, I’ve got too much on my plate, but I thought I’d hold a quick-and-dirty ask-me-anything chat on the topic with paid subscribers.
Mark your calendars for this on Thursday, August 7th from 4-5pm ET. Again, its exclusively for paid subscribers, so if you’re interested, subscribe…
📢 Trauma Writing Workshop at Narratively Academy
Starting on Saturday, August 9, Rebecca Evans leads a 3-part workshop, Untangling the Traumatic Narrative: Using Words to Access Our Wounds.
📢 APPLICATIONS DUE TODAY: Yearlong Creative Nonfiction Manuscript Program with Anne Liu Kellor September 2025 - August 2026
Are you working on a book-length memoir, collection of essays, or hybrid nonfiction project? Do you seek more support in committing to a regular writing practice, engaging with diverse readings and prompts, outlining your book’s structure, understanding the world of publishing, and connecting with literary community? Then this Yearlong Creative Nonfiction Manuscript Program for 8 women and nonbinary writers may be for you.
Together, cohort members will embark this fall on a journey of sharing their writing, stories, feedback, and questions with each other in community. We will hold generative and craft-based workshops twice a month on Zoom, and share writing, resources, and feedback weekly on Slack. One-on-one coaching calls, seasonal intention-setting, accountability check-ins, and examining our own deep-seated patterns and processes are also fundamental parts of the program, as well as a manuscript review of up to 80k words.
You might not finish a full draft in a year, but you will understand more deeply what your book is about, why you need to write it, and what it will take to stay the course. At least half of the spaces are reserved for BIPOC. Payment plans are available. Learn more at anneliukellor.com, then reach out to Anne you the application or to set up a discovery call. Applications are due by August 4, with the first workshop on Saturday, 9.27.
📢 “Nuts and Bolts” Seeking Sinéad O’Connor essays…
To celebrate the July launch of the anthology Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O'Connor Means to Us (One Signal), with contributions from notable essayists including Lidia Yuknavitch, Porochista Khakpour, Rayne Fisher-Quan, Megan Stielstra, and many more, anthology editors Sonya Huber and Martha Bayne will be running a series of additional essays about Sinead on the Substack "Nuts and Bolts." To celebrate and explore the legacy and impact of Sinéad O'Connor's music, protest, spirituality, and example of living her truths. Please send pieces of 2,000 words or fewer to sineadanthology@gmail.com, with a deadline of August 31, 2025. Pieces selected will appear in Summer 2025. All rights revert to the author after publication, and previously published essays are acceptable as long as the author holds the rights. Compensation for those chosen for publication will be one copy of the hardcover anthology.
📢 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.
📢 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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Every week I look forward to this collection—it’s my favorite corner of the internet where I can read about lives actually being lived. Thank you as always for working so hard to put this together. 💛
Thanks for organizing this! The pieces you choose are compelling.