5 Most Popular Posts: October 2021

…“What is Memoir?” by Annette Gendler. “So what’s the difference between autobiography and memoir? And why should we care? Both are written by the person whose life is being narrated, right? Yes, but autobiography is a chronological account of that life, from birth to a later stage in life. Autobiography…

Jumping Over Shadows: A Memoir

…universal through the personal.” Annette Gendler’s new memoir, Jumping Over Shadows, does much the same thing, though the particularities of Gendler’s experience are deeply underscored and the universals are more subtly evoked. Annette was born in New Jersey to an American mother and a father from Czechoslovakia. The family, including…

The Trouble with Knausgaard

…review of Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle: Book Five.] Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

In Papa’s House

…studio under the dormers — draft, heat, and all. Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

An Interview with Kelley Clink

…and start bumbling on the page all over again. Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

On Not Reading a Book

…okay. They have their taste, and I have mine. Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Gillian Marchenko

…shops while my four daughters are at school. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Is My Story Dramatic Enough?

…is the transformation?”It might just be in losing a cat.Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Glen Finland

…much like David. The working title is Picture This. Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Selby Fleming McPhee

…readers will feel some sense of satisfaction, too. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Publisher Ken Ackerman

…hope to have it in print very soon. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Writing About Others

…least be behind your own work 100 percent. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

The Independent’s Top 5 July Entries

…with Susannah Conway by Annette Gendler. The author of This I Know talks about writing of her journey through grief.3) Author Q&A: Interview with Oonya Kempadoo. The author talks about her third novel, All Decent Animals, and about writing about Trinidad.4) Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City by Gordon Young.…

Interview with Susannah Conway

…ideas for a follow-up to This I Know. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Rebecca McClanahan

…“never.” I’ll just have to wait and see. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

It’s OK to Lie in Memoir

…forgive you and might even come along for the ride.Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

The Independent’s Most Popular March Posts

…Interview with Leslie Maitland: Annette Gendler speaks with the author of Crossing the Borders of Time. 3) Interview with William McPherson: Michael Causey discusses books and writing with the D.C. literary icon. 4) What Is Memoir? Annette Gendler makes the list again with this elucidation of the popular genre, and…

What is Memoir?

…and to grapple with, and hopefully overcome, our struggles. Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

Interview with Leslie Maitland

…waiting to be recognized. The rest is history. Interviewer Annette Gendler is a nonfiction writer and teaches memoir writing at StoryStudio Chicago.

The Privilege of Teaching Memoir

By Annette Gendler When I mention that I teach memoir writing, I often get the reaction, “You must hear a lot of heavy stuff.” I do, and I feel I live a wider life because of it. But writing memoir is not about the heavy stuff. It’s about what the…

Q&A with Wenguang Huang, The Little Red Guard

By Annette Gendler Wenguang Huang’s memoir The Little Red Guard is the story of an ordinary Chinese family during Mao’s punitive Cultural Revolution. And yet it is not a story of suffering under the regime, nor of being sent to work in rice fields because of what was seen as…

Author Q&A: Sara Mansfield Taber

…an Assumed Name by Annette Gendler In her memoir Born under an Assumed Name, Sara Mansfield Taber explores what it means to be American. Born in Japan, her early childhood is spent on the colorful streets of late 1950s and early 1960s Taiwan, where her father works for the CIA.…

Q&A with Tracy Crow

…Number magazine. Interview by Annette Gendler Eyes Right reads like a thriller, which is unusual for a memoir. Did you deliberately choose to create this effect by framing the story with the interrogation and threat of a court martial? The current structure of the court-martial frame wasn’t my first choice.…