Episode 3: What’s the Deal with Memoir

In which Robynne and Jane delve deeply into the modern interpretation of the wildly popular genre, memoir. Mother Daughter Me by Katie Hafner gets a mention, as does Robynne’s favorite author, Chaim Potok, and one of her favorite books, Night by Elie Weisel. Ginny Yttrup’s gripping book Words is also on the table as a great example of fictionalized nonfiction.

Memoir is quickly becoming one of the most popular genres to write and read. Why? What has opened the floodgates in the last ten years? And why are regular folks suddenly writing compelling, marketable, successful memoirs with great success when a decade or so ago you had to be mega-famous to even get in a publisher’s door? (hint: the trend toward the “universal truths” found in memoir!)