Let’s Talk Memoir

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden featuring Camille T. Dungy

Camille T. Dungy joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about who speaks about the natural world and how, erasure in life and in art, the white gaze, reviewing the cannon of environmental literature with a critical eye, writing about motherhood, manuscript-cutting, leaning into humor and nuance in our work, and her new book Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. 
 
Also in this episode:
-memoir that’s so braided it’s woven
-creating work during a pandemic
-interrogating ourselves
 
Books mentioned in this episode:
Deep Creek by Pam Houston
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Motherhood So White by Nerfertiti Austin
The Inland Island: A Year in Nature by Josephine Johnson
 
Camille T. Dungy is the author of the essay collection Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has edited three anthologies, including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. Her honors include the 2021 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an and an American Book Award. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University and the author of SOIL: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden.
Connect with Camille:
Website: https://camilledungy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camilledungy/
Get Camille’s Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soil/Camille-T-Dungy/9781982195304 
 
– 
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

The Spiritual Memoir featuring Sarah Birnbach

Sarah Birnbach joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about grief and the wished-for mother, how Jewish prayer anchored her as she mourned the father she adored, birth order and responsibility, how spirituality has shaped her, deciding how much to share about her painful relationship with her mother, and publishing her memoir A Daughter’s Kaddish later in life.
 
Also in this episode:
-not throwing those we have conflict with under the bus
-feminism in Judaism
-community as a balm for grief
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl
The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
 
Sarah Birnbach spent 35 years as a human resource management consultant helping organizations to achieve peak performance, and was a sought-after speaker at conferences across multiple industries. As a licensed clinical social worker, she worked as a family therapist in a juvenile and domestic relations court, and became a certified journal facilitator in 2010.
 
In her “encore career” as a writer and author, Sarah is a six-time award winner in the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and her articles have appeared in numerous literary magazines and journals, as well as the Washington Jewish Week and the Jerusalem Post. Her memoir, A Daughter’s Kaddish, follows her journey through the year after her father’s death.
 
She lives outside Washington, D.C. with her husband and enjoys traveling and being Grandma to her seven grandchildren.  
 
Connect with Sarah:
Website: www.sarahbirnbach.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarah_birnbach
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahBirnbachWriterAuthor/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsheilabirnbach/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.birnbach/
 
–
 
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

Processing Grief with Words featuring Candace Cahill

Candace Cahill joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about placing her newborn son for adoption and meeting him as an adult shortly before his death, writing for clarity, negotiating guilt, finding compassion for yourself, writing as a process for grieving, and her memoir Goodbye Again.
 
Also in this episode:
-child relinquishment
-extending grace to parents who fell short
-the benefits of writing groups
 
Books mentioned in this episode:
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
When I Was Her Daughter by Leslie Ferguson
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Educated by Tara Westover
The Burning Light of Two Stars by Laura Davis
 
Candace Cahill is a multi-disciplinary artist from Denali, Alaska, and the author of Goodbye Again, a memoir about losing her son twice. A life-long learner, she utilizes traumatic experiences from her life to provide insights into self-compassion and healing. Known for her ability to engage diverse audiences, her stories are tragic yet uplifting. She delights and inspires audiences with her storytelling expertise through speaking engagements, written work, songwriting, and as a seasonal National Park Ranger. When Candace is not telling stories, you can find her walking in the woods, playing her guitar, and reading books.
 
Connect with Candace:
Website: candacecahill.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/candace_cahill_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/candace.cahill.16
– 
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

You Could Make This Place Beautiful featuring Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about having and holding boundaries in our work and in our lives, trusting our instincts as writers, taking risks, telling the truth as we know it, allowing our material to dictate form, how our work changes over time, and her highly anticipated memoir You Could Make This Place Beautiful.
-Visit the Let's Talk Memoir Merch store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/letstalkmemoir
Also in this episode:
-protecting our children in our work
-poetry’s possibilities
-why we can only speak for ourselves
 
Books mentioned in this episode: 
Blow Your House Down by Gina Frangello
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso
The Chronology of Water by Kidia Yuknavitch
Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas
 
Maggie Smith is the award-winning author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, and the national bestsellers Goldenrod and Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received several Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, two Academy of American Poets Prizes, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry, and more. 
 
Connect with Maggie:
Website: https://maggiesmithpoet.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesmithpoet/
Get You Can Make This Place Beautiful: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/You-Could-Make-This-Place-Beautiful/Maggie-Smith/9781982185855
--
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

Sharing A Dangerous Story featuring Erika Bornman

Erika Bornman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about her experience escaping from KwaSizabantu and her participation in News24’s exposé alleging this strict Christian mission is a cult is a cult riddled with abuse, the compassion she found writing about loved ones with whom she has longstanding conflict, how she approached crafting emotionally difficult passages, the legal advice she got about including controversial material in her memoir Mission of Malice, and why our voice matters.
 
Also in this episode: 
-the importance of therapy for memoirists
-working with hard deadlines
-building empathy through stories
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Choice by Dr Edith Eger
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
The Witness Wore Red by Rebecca Musser
Lost Boy by Brent Jeffs and Maia Szalavitz
Wholly Unravelled by Keele Burgin
Unfollow by Meghan Phelps-Roper
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 
Always Another Country by Sisonke Msimang
Boy on the Run by Welcome Mandla Lishivha
Killing Karoline by Sara-Jayne King
Mad Bad Love by Sara-Jayne Makwala King
 
Erika Bornman has carved a career for herself in magazine publishing as a writer and editor, despite her lack of formal training. Her memoir is her first book and an important element in her quest to make the world a safer place for children. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with her two cats.
About her memoir Mission of Malice:
When Erika Bornman was nine years old, her family joined, and ultimately moved to, KwaSizabantu, a Christian mission in South Africa – a place touted as a nirvana, founded on egalitarian values. But something sinister lurks below the veneer of piousness here.
Life at KwaSizabantu is hard. Christianity is used to justify harsh punishments and congregants are forced to repent for their sins. Threats of physical violence ensure adherence to stringent rules. Parents are pitted against children. Friendships are discouraged. Isolated and alone, Erika lives in constant fear of eternal damnation.
At 17, her grooming at the hands of a senior mission counsellor begins. For the next five years, KwaSizabantu wages emotional, psychological and sexual warfare on her, until, finally, she manages to break free and walk away at the age of 21.
Escaping a restrictive religious community is difficult, but rehabilitation into ‘normal’ life after a decade of ritual humiliation, brainwashing and abuse is much more painful, as Erika soon discovers. She cannot ignore her knowledge of the grievous human-rights abuses being committed at KwaSizabantu, and so she embarks on a quest to expose the atrocities. With her help, News24 launches a seven-month investigation, culminating in a podcast that will go on to win the internationally renowned One World Media Award for Radio and Podcast in 2021.
In Mission of Malice: My Exodus from KwaSizabantu, Erika chronicles her journey from a fearful young girl to a fierce activist determined to do whatever it takes to save future generations and find personal redemption and self-acceptance.
 
Connect with Erika:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ebee40
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikabornman/
Website: www.erikabornman.com
Get Erika’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Malice-My-exodus-KwaSizabantu-ebook/dp/B09B45VMP6
 
--
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

Writing What You Have To featuring Sandi Wisenberg

Sandi Wisenberg joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about finding home, the structure our books need, her career as a journalist, negotiating a legacy of woman shame and Jewish shame, writing what you have to, and her new collection of memoiristic essays, The Wandering Womb.
-Visit the Let's Talk Memoir Merch store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/letstalkmemoir
 
Also in this episode:
-looking for home
-not wrapping our writing up too neatly
-a closer look at “the wandering Jew” trope
 
Further reading about The Wandering Jew trope from rootsmetals.com:
https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/the-wandering-jew-trope
 
Books mentioned in this episode:
The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
The Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy
A Chorus of Stones by Susan Griffin
Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her by Susan Griffin
Books by Phillip Lopate
 
S.L. Wisenberg is the author of the forthcoming book, The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home, winner of the Juniper Prize in creative nonfiction. It will be published March 31, 2023, by the University of Massachusetts Press. She's also the author of a short-story collection, The Sweetheart Is In; an essay collection, Holocaust Girls: History, Memory, & Other Obsessions; and a nonfiction chronicle, The Adventures of Cancer Bitch. She is a fourth-generation native Texan who lives in Chicago and edits Another Chicago Magazine. She has an MFA in fiction from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and a BSJ from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She was a feature writer for the Miami Herald and has published prose and poetry in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Narrative, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Colorado Review, and many other places. Her anthologized work is in Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction, Creating Nonfiction: A Guide and Anthology, Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Life is Short--Art is Shorter, and a number of other books. For ten years she was co-director of Northwestern's then-MA/MFA in Creative Writing program and was a graduate faculty recipient of a Distinguished Teacher Award. She has been the literary editor of TriQuarterly, the creative nonfiction editor of Another Chicago Magazine. and is now the editor of ACM. She's received a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She was the Coal Royalty Chair for a semester at the University of Alabama, teaching in the MFA program. Wisenberg has read her work and lectured at many universities and colleges, including Brown, Creighton, Minnesota State, Texas A&M, University of Tampa, Ripon, and Lafayette. Besides Northwestern, she has taught at DePaul, Roosevelt, Western Michigan, North Park University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is working on a collection of short stories that are pre- and post-Holocaust and have a connection to old movies and Houston. One of these was runner-up in Narrative Magazine's Fall 2021 contest, and another won Narrative's Spring 22 contest. 
 
Connect with Sandi:
https://www.facebook.com/sandi.wisenberg
Sandi Wisenberg @SLWisenberg
slwisenberg.com
Sandi’s first three books: https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=wisenberg
Sandi’s forthcoming book:  https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781625347350 or Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wandering-womb-s-l-wisenberg/1142599024?ean=9781625347350
--
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

From Blog to Book featuring Stacey Freeman

Stacey Freeman joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about how her husband’s infidelity became the impetus for her writing career, single parenthood and the shock of dating after divorce, getting comfortable sharing after a lifetime of keeping the personal under wraps, cutting her manuscript by half, and the blog that became her memoir I Bought My Husband’s Mistress Lingerie. 
 
Also in this episode:
-making a living from writing
-finding peace with an ex
-pivoting careers after children
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Maid by Stephanie Land
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
If I Knew Then by Amy Fisher
Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver
No One Asked For This by Cazzie David
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Stacey Freeman is a writer and journalist and the founder of Write On Track LLC, a full-service consultancy dedicated to providing high-quality content and strategy to individuals and businesses. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily (published by The Washington Post), Forbes, Entrepreneur, MarketWatch, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, Town & Country, InStyle, PBS’ Next Avenue, AARP, SheKnows, Yahoo!, MSN, HuffPost, POPSUGAR, Your Teen, Grown & Flown, Scary Mommy, CafeMom, MariaShriver.com, and dozens of other well-known platforms worldwide. She lives in New Jersey with her three children.
 
Connect with Stacey:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staceyfreemanwriter/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/staceyfreemanwriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StaceyFreemanJD
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoHeCheated
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceyfreemanwriter/
Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22449933.Stacey_Freeman
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/staceyfreemanwriter/
Website: staceyfreeman.com
Website: writeontrackllc.com
Get her book: https://www.amazon.com/Bought-My-Husbands-Mistress-Lingerie/dp/1956692401/ref=sr_1_2?crid=G644U5E8GTU7&keywords=stacey+freeman&qid=1666283013&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjQ2IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=stacey+freeman%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-2
 
--
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
 
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

Excavating Cultural Identity in Memoir featuring Jasmin Faulk-Dickerson

Jasmin Faulk-Dickerson joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up in Saudi Arabia under an oppressive regime, what being a woman of color does and doesn’t mean to her, invisible identities, writing about ethnicity, race, and culture, her advocacy work, and how she navigated the socio-political in her memoir The Last Sandstorm.
 
Also in this episode:
-Recognizing our privilege as we write
-Knowing what to leave out of our manuscripts 
-How hyper liberalism has impacted her
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Home by Julie Andrews
 
Jasmin is a social & behavioral researcher, writer, speaker, and cultural identity advocate. She draws motivation from her personal story as well as her education to advocate and promote social justice and understanding. Born in the Middle East to an Italian mother and Arabian father, she immigrated to the United States in 1999 and pursued her education in Wyoming and Washington State in writing, equity, diversity, and leadership.
Jasmin’s areas of expertise are: DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion), ethical leadership, cultural diversity and social identity, women’s issues, and oppression. 
Jasmin is also versed in issues regarding: Arab women, Arab culture, social/cultural oppression, religious oppression, and The Middle East, 
In her memoir, The Last Sandstorm, Jasmin highlights the colorful and challenging experiences of her upbringing in Saudi Arabia, which led to her harrowing escape in her 20s. 
Jasmin is also the host of the podcast “I Want You To Meet”, where she engages with artists and activists in inspiring and educational conversations. She also guest lectures and guest speaks at events, colleges, and retreats and works at The Evergreen State College in Washington State.
 
Connect with Jasmin:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasmin.faulk.dickerson/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082512111864&ref=page_internal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmin-faulk-dickerson-mpa-00324a117/
Website: https://www.jasminfaulkdickerson.com/
--
Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
 
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

Finding the Themes in Your Story featuring Debbie Weiss

Debbie Weiss joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about widowhood and capturing grief and loneliness in ways that keep readers invested, starting scenes in the middle, finding themes in your story, how her blog was a stepping stone to watching her writing take off, and her new memoir Available As Is.
 
Also in this episode:
-writing about the character-you from the narrator-you lens 
-the online dating scene after 50
-structuring a memoir with lots of material
 
Books Mentioned in this episode:
Consider the Oyster by M. F. K.  Fisher
The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin
Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton
Educated by Tara Westover
 
Debbie Weiss is a former attorney who earned her MFA in creative nonfiction from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2020. A native of the Bay Area, she turned to writing after George, her husband and partner of more than three decades, died of cancer in April 2013, and she found herself single and living alone for the first time in her life. Weiss’s essays have been published in The New York Times's “Modern Love” column, HuffPost, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Elle Décor, and Reader’s Digest, among other publications. She lives in Benicia, CA with het second life partner, Randal.
 
Connect with Debi:
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/debbieweissauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie_weiss_author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DWeissWriter
Website: https://thehungoverwidow.com/
Purchase “Available As Is”:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1324017.Debbie_Weiss
Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/Available-As-Midlife-Widows-Search/dp/164742237X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JLADG9KGH13C&keywords=available+as+is+debbie+weiss&qid=1665773224&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjkxIiwicXNhIjoiMC4zNiIsInFzcCI6IjAuNTEifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=available+as+is%2Caps%2C255&sr=8-1
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Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
 
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers

The Intersection of Race, Privilege, and Addiction in Memoir featuring Laura Cathcart Robbins

Laura Cathcart Robbins joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about writing Stash, her new memoir that delves into addiction, privilege, and race, what self-care looked like for her while she tackled traumatic material, why she had to let go of controlling the narrative to better serve her story, and depicting the physical impact of addiction on the page.
 
Also in this episode:
-Laura’s wildly popular podcast The Only One in the Room
-the importance of journals
-sharing a manuscript with family and exes
 
Memoirs mentioned in this episode:
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamont
Dry by Augustus Burrows
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
California Soul by Keith Corbin
Educated by Tara Westover
 
Laura Cathcart Robbin is the host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, and author of the forthcoming Atria/Simon & Schuster memoir, STASH (due out in spring of 2023). She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating The Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Her recent articles in Huffpo and The Temper on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is a LA Moth StorySlam winner and currently sits on the advisory boards of the San Diego Writer’s Festival and the Outliers HQ podcast Festival. Find out more about her on her website, or you can look for her on Facebook, on Instagram, and follow her on Twitter.
 
Connect with Laura: 
Laura's Podcast: https://theonlyonepod.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHRtdMgfXBbfvb6YkJr2qQw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theonlyoneintheroom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theonlyoneintheroom
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOnlyOnePodc1
Laura's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauracathcartrobbins/
Huffpost Profile: https://www.huffpost.com/author/laura-cathcart-robbins
Laura's Website: http://www.lauracathcartrobbins.com/
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Ronit Plank is a writer, teacher, and editor whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, American Literary Review, Hippocampus, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named a 2021 Best True Crime Book by Book Riot and was a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards, the Housatonic Book Awards, and the Book of the Year Awards. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, the Best of the Net, and the Best Microfiction Anthology, and her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ Eludia Award. She is creative nonfiction editor at The Citron Review and lives in Seattle with her family where she is working on her next book.
 
More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com
Sign up for monthly podcast and writing updates: https://bit.ly/33nyTKd
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
More about WHEN SHE COMES BACK, a memoir: https://ronitplank.com/book/
More about HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE, a short story collection: https://ronitplank.com/home-is-a-made-up-place/
Connect with Ronit:
https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/
https://twitter.com/RonitPlank
https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank
 
Background photo: Canva
Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography
Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll’s Fingers