What Have Been Your Favorite Personal Essays Lately—Or Ever?

A crowd-sourced edition of "Memoir Monday" while I travel. PLUS: Announcements from Narratively, Literary Liberation, and more...

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Readers,

As I mentioned in last week’s “Memoir Monday” roundup, I’m traveling this week and short on time to read personal essays. So I thought this might be a good opportunity for an “open thread,” in which I invite all of you to comment with the personal essays that have moved YOU the most—recently, or ever. This has worked well during other weeks I was away.

So, in the comments tell me:

What have been your favorite personal essays lately? What are your all-time favorite essays, published at any time? Include the titles, author names, and publications associated with each of them, and if there’s a link you can share, please add that, too. You can share as many as you want. ***If you’d like to include one personal essay of your own, make sure you also include at least one by someone else.***

Thanks for filling in for me this week while I’m away! I’ll be back April 28th with another regular edition of the Memoir Monday weekly personal essay roundup.

- Sari Botton

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🚨Announcements:

📢

Narratively

x Belletrist True Romance Writing Prize

Narratively is accepting submissions for their Narratively x Belletrist True Romance Writing Prize. They are looking for remarkable memoir and reported stories that offer new perspectives and defy all odds, completely shifting our understanding of romance and relationships. The guest judges are star actor Emma Roberts and acclaimed producer Karah Preiss of Belletrist. Awards will be given in two categories: longform (1,000-5,000 words) and shortreads (up to 999 words); for longform, one grand prize winner will be awarded $3,000 and two finalists will be awarded $1,000 each; and for shortreads, one grand prize winner will be awarded $500 and two finalists will be awarded $250 each. For more information and to submit a story (or stories), head here. Note: There is a $20 entry fee for longform and a $10 fee for shortreads — which are waived for paid Narratively subscribers! (one in each category per person). The deadline to submit is Thursday, May 1, 2025.

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📢 Don’t Call Me Home author

Alexandra Auder

’s Writing Retreat in Tuscany, August 2-9 looks amazing and I wish I could make it…

Alex's Writing (& more) Retreat in Tuscany

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📢 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.

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📢 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:

1. The title of the essay and a link to it.

2. Your name and Substack profile link, if you have one, so I can tag you in the post.

3. A paragraph or a few lines from the piece that will most entice readers.

4. 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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