The Art of Memoir

Credited with sparking the current memoir explosion, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club spent more than a year at the top of the New York Times list. She followed with two other smash bestsellers: Cherry and Lit, which were critical hits as well.

For thirty years Karr has also taught the form, winning teaching prizes at Syracuse. (The writing program there produced such acclaimed authors as Cheryl Strayed, Keith Gessen, and Koren Zailckas.) In The Art of Memoir, she synthesizes her expertise as professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and “black belt sinner,” providing a unique window into the mechanics and art of the form that is as irreverent, insightful, and entertaining as her own work in the genre.

Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers’ experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr’s own writing process. (Plus all those inside stories about how she dealt with family and friends get told— and the dark spaces in her own skull probed in depth.) As she breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, she breaks open our concepts of memory and identity, and illuminates the cathartic power of reflecting on the past; anybody with an inner life or complicated history, whether writer or reader, will relate to this guide on storytelling.

Joining such classics as Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, The Art of Memoir is an elegant and accessible exploration of one of today’s most popular forms of creative nonfiction—a tour de force from an accomplished master pulling back the curtain on her writing craft.

With the irreverent, insightful, and entertaining voice she’s known for, Karr breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir, including:

• Developing Your Voice: How to move past posturing and find the singular, authentic voice that only you can bring to the page, transforming your personal story into a work of art.
• The Truth Contract: An unflinching look at the contract between writer and reader, navigating the treacherous territory between memory, fact, and the stories we tell ourselves.
• Sacred Carnality: Master the art of sensory detail—what Karr calls “sacred carnality”—to create a physical world so real your readers can step inside it.
• Dealing with Beloveds: A frank guide to writing about family and friends, handling their reactions, and telling your story without burning down your life.