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Memoir Nation

Memoir Nation

By: Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner
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About this listen

 Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey. Originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, this is a weekly writing podcast that focuses on memoir and personal writing, as well as industry trends and tips and resources for writers and authors. Memoir Nation features a segment called Book Alley at the end of each episode to talk about recent memoirs that authors have sent Brooke and Grant, or memoirs they've discovered that are thought provoking or have sparked inspiration. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters. Discover more about Memoir Nation at memoirnation.com.bc738ec0-6362-11f0-8239-9908347d311c Art Literary History & Criticism
Episodes
  • Roxane Gay on Memoir as Manifesto

    Roxane Gay on Memoir as Manifesto
    Sep 15 2025
    What a treat to connect with Roxane Gay about memoir. We cover topics of oversharing and boundaries, as well as when memoir becomes manifesto. Today’s show covers vulnerability and writing about shame, and how Roxane’s success and visibility has impacted her writing. Plus, we get Roxane’s take on Elizabeth Gilbert’s new memoir, and why she thinks it’s “not good.” Much worth listening to this week, including Brooke’s celebration of having Roxane on the show in the first place after having been declined a couple times. A lesson for all that a no is not a forever no. Tune in! Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, The New York Times-bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women, and The New York Times-bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. And don’t miss out on her Substack newsletter, The Audacity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • Jeannie Vanasco on the Mother-Daughter Relationship in Memoir

    Jeannie Vanasco on the Mother-Daughter Relationship in Memoir
    Sep 8 2025
    This week we come back to a topic, the mother-daughter relationship, we’ve covered in various ways over the years. Author Jeannie Vanasco has a unique take, however, in that her mother lived with her while she was writing her new book, A Silent Treatment. She shares with us about writing from “within an experience” and why she wrote this book “for” her mother. There are endless nuances to explore when it comes to the mother-daughter relationship, and Grant and Brooke get into why this is a dynamic that memoirists will always be drawn to. Jeannie Vanasco is the author of the memoirs Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl—which was named a ​New York Times Editors' Choice and a best book of 2019 by TIME, Esquire, Kirkus, among others—and The Glass Eye, which Poets & Writers called one of the five best literary nonfiction debuts of 2017. Her third book, A Silent Treatment, is out this month on Tin House. Born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio, she lives in Baltimore and is an associate professor of English at Towson University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 mins
  • Myriam Gurba on Packing a Punch with Language

    Myriam Gurba on Packing a Punch with Language
    Sep 1 2025
    This week, Memoir Nation podcast turns 8! And we’re kicking off our new season with guest Myriam Gurba, the brilliant if sometimes controversial critic and cultural writer who’s the author of multiple books, including her memoir, Mean, and the forthcoming Poppy State. This week’s podcast is focused on language—word choice, puns, clever language, reading aloud, being in love with language, and so much more. Myriam is a master of language, and her books are a delight to read because of it. And we’re bringing back the book trend this season, kicking off with a conversation between Brooke and Grant about the trend of authors using AI to enhance their writing, specifically chosen to juxtapose the kind of language we read in Myriam’s work. If you’ve been thinking about how to write better, more creative, more unique prose, we’re circling that and more this week. And welcome to our new season! Myriam Gurba is the author of four books: Dahlia Season, Painting Their Portraits in Winter; Mean, and Creep. Myriam’s writing has been widely anthologized and has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Believer, Paris Review, and elsewhere. She is a teacher, an editor, an anti-rape activist, a public speaker, a practitioner of plant-based magic, and a co-founder of Dignidad Literaria, a grassroots organization that combats white supremacy in the publishing industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 mins
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