Memoir Nation

Before memoir was the craze that it is today, there were writers who were defining the genre. Marya Hornbacher was one of them. Her two best-selling memoirs, Wasted and Madness, are two of the most influential memoirs of all time—giving rise to a whole slew of books not only on her topics of eating disorders and mental health, but about many challenging topics that later became collectively (and disparagingly) known as “misery memoirs.” Despite the judgments and the naysayers, these kinds of memoirs have outlasted the critiques—and prevailed. Marya Hornbacher was one of the trailblazers and she has some things to say about all of this and more. Marya will be teaching a class for Memoir Nation this June 11th called The "Give a Shit" Factor: Writing Memoirs That Matter, something she knows a thing or two about. Find the details at MemoirNation.com.
Marya Hornbacher is an award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and the recipient of a host of awards for her work, which include Wasted, Madness, Sane, and Waiting, and the novel: The Center of Winter. Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, Marya has spent a prolific quarter century writing and teaching across genres. She has a popular Substack called Going Solo at the End of the World, and a new book coming out in 2027.
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This week, guest Mimi Nichter brings us a unique opportunity to talk about the courage—and many years—it sometimes takes to tell the story you must write. In Mimi’s case, it took 50 years. In 1970, Mimi was on Trans World Airlines Flight 741 when it got rerouted from Tel Aviv to to Jordan after it was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Her memoir, Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience, is a recounting, a compassionate examination of the human lives at the center of this event, and a courageous act, given the political moment when so many are troubled by being forced to take sides in a political conflict where there is only loss and losers. This is an important story that took years to tell—and this week’s show grapples with how many stories like Mimi’s are out there, yet untold, and again marvels at the value of memoir as a vehicle of truth and witness.
Mimi Nichter is a cultural and medical anthropologist, public speaker, and a professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Arizona. She is the author or coauthor of four anthropology-related books and the recipient of the Margaret Mead Award and the George Foster Practicing Medical Anthropology Award. Her essays have appeared in HuffPost, Newsweek, and Brevity. Her brand-new memoir, Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience, was a finalistic for the the Tucson festival of books literary award for nonfiction.
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This week’s episode is a meditation on partnership and all the ways there are to both attend to your partner and to fail. In his new book Choreplay, author Jordan Carlos calls himself out for some of his shortcomings as a husband, but also explores ways he can and does show up for his wife. Grant and Brooke reveal their own thoughts about how they measure up as spouses, and also consider memoirs like these that are explorations of how we can do better—as humans, as partners, as parents, and in all the ways we show up in the world. Jordan Carlos is a comedian, thank God, because he’s able to take this seemingly fraught topic and make it funny and fun. Enjoy!
Jordan Carlos is a stand up comedian and actor based in New York. He recently wrote for and starred in the first season of Phoebe Robinson’s “Everything’s Trash”, and stars in the forthcoming animated series Motel Translyvania, coming to Netflix in Fall 2025. He is perhaps best known for his work as a writer and on-air contributor for The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, has written for Divorce and “The White House Correspondents’ Dinner” (in 2016) as well as “The Not The White House Correspondent’s Dinner” with Samantha Bee (in 2017). He has also appeared on Black Mirror, Nora From Queens, Party Down, Broad City, and The Colbert Report , among others. Jordan lives in Brooklyn with his wife and children, and Choreplay is his first book.
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Much like guest Sarah Aziza’s beautiful memoir, The Hollow Half, this week’s show covers a lot of territory and shines light on multiple topics of interest to memoirists. We explore memoir as art—what that means and whether memoirists should strive for their work to be art per se. Aziza’s book is experimental and ambitious, and as such gives this week’s episode delves into craft choices and process and more. Aziza shares her family history and how her grandmother started to show up in her dreams—and how this memoir took root and ultimately became the gift it is—timely, urgent, and beautiful.
Sarah Aziza is a Palestinian American writer, translator, and artist with roots in ‘Ibdis and Deir al-Balah, Gaza. She is the author of the genre-bending memoir The Hollow Half, winner of the Palestine Book Award and named a Most Anticipated and Best Book of the Year by Vulture, Vanity Fair, Literary Hub, Elle, Electric Literature, and Mizna, among others. Sarah’s award-winning journalism, poetry, essays, and experimental nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Best American Essays, among other publications. She is the recipient of fellowships and support from Fulbright, MacDowell, USA Artists, the Asian American Writers Workshop, and others. Sarah has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, South Africa, and Palestine, and now resides in the U.S. on occupied Munsee Lenape and Canarsie land.
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This week’s episode touches upon so many interesting topics for memoirists—from catalyst moments that create the foundational stories of our memoirs; to the ways we can prism experience through “before” and “after”; to the journey of titling and subtitling; to the wild and unpredictable individual journeys that lead to published books. Author Karen Palmer is an insightful guest whose memoir and journey to publication will inspire and propel you along, and remind you to stay the course. Your story matters!
Karen Palmer’s memoir She's Under Here grew out of her award-winning essay The Reader Is the Protagonist, first published in VQR and selected by Leslie Jamison for inclusion in Best American Essays 2017. She has received a Pushcart Prize and grants from the NEA and the Colorado Council on the Arts, and is the author of the novels All Saints and Border Dogs. Other work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, Arts & Letters, The Rumpus, and Kalliope. She teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, and lives with her husband in California.
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