Memoir Land

Memoir Land

Home
Podcast
First Person Singular
The Lit Lab
Memoir Monday
Goodbye to All That
Archive
About

The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire

The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #98: Julie Brill
"I was a reluctant memoirist...I wrote the book so the little-known story of the Jews of Serbia could be better known."
 • 
Sari Botton
4
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #97: Matthew Specktor
"The book does render my experience, and faithfully, but it’s really about other stuff...this is actually a book about power."
 • 
Sari Botton
3
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #96: Alexandra Auder
"About 15 years ago, I tried and failed to publish a version of this book. Over the decades it has had a few lives, and countless rejections, before…
 • 
Sari Botton
2
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #95: Brooke Randel
"Uncovering the story of how my grandma ran, hid, and stole her way to survival—at 13 years old—helped me piece together many other questions about my…
 • 
Sari Botton
9
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #94: Erin Dorney
"At first I thought my book was 'just' poetry. But when pieces started getting picked up by literary journals with a non-fiction focus, I started…
 • 
Sari Botton
4
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #93: Emily Adrian
"I’m uncomfortable writing memoir. On some level I don’t understand why anything I claim really happened should be more reliable or truthful than my…
 • 
Sari Botton
6
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #92: Laurie Woolever
"I wasted a lot of time as a young person, when I could have been writing, so I try not to waste time now thinking about worrying about not writing, and…
 • 
Sari Botton
8
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #91: Vicky Nguyen
"I wanted to know: how do you write something that readers will want to spend time with and that will resonate with them. Commercial success is the…
 • 
Sari Botton
2
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #90: Rich Benjamin
"This story, this book, had been demanding to be written ever since my family—my mother, especially—refused to discuss their past. This book is a…
 • 
Sari Botton
7
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #89: Sarah Kendzior
"For a decade, my readers have asked, 'How do you raise children, knowing what you know?' more than any other question. This book is my answer."
 • 
Sari Botton
20
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #88: Ariel Gore
"The book emerged from my need to have a place where I could ask the unspeakable questions, to document our experiences, and to add our queer…
 • 
Sari Botton
3
The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire #87: Diane Mehta
"Be yourself in prose, allow ideas to emerge, and go on riffs—into brambly, wild places. I don’t mean let just anything happen, but follow your mind."
 • 
Sari Botton
4
© 2025 Sari Botton
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture