Let’s Talk Memoir

By Ronit Plank

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Subscribers: 4
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Episodes: 232

Description

Let’s Talk Memoir is a podcast for memoir lovers, readers, and writers, featuring interviews with memoirists about their writing process, their challenges, and what they’ve learned about sharing the most personal of narratives. Hosted by writer, editor, and teacher Ronit Plank, each episode highlights different aspects of the memoir-writing experience, and offers writing tips and inspiration. Ronit is the author of the award-winning story collection Home is a Made-Up Place and the memoir When She Comes Back about the loss of her mother to the guru at the center of Netflix’s docuseries Wild Wild Country and their eventual reconciliation. For more memoir advice, workshops, and encouragement find Let’s Talk Memoir and Ronit on Substack, Instagram, and at ronitplank.com

Episode Date
227. Crafting a Shared Memoir featuring Rebecca N. Thompson, MD
Feb 24, 2026
226. Homing in on Why We Need to Tell Our Story featuring Blair Glaser
Feb 17, 2026
225. Writing Closer to the Bone featuring Bee Wilson
Feb 10, 2026
224. Writing About Chasing an Unconventional Life and Feeling Haunted
Feb 03, 2026
223. Creating the Life That We Want to Live Inside with Words featuring Louise Southerden
Jan 27, 2026
222. Unpacking the Scripts We’ve Been Handed featuring Anna Rollins
Jan 20, 2026
221. Writing and Processing Old, Longstanding Anger featuring Steve Eichenblatt
Jan 13, 2026
220. How to Be Unmothered: Escaping Enmeshment, Going No Contact, and Cocooning Ourselves featuring Camille U. Adams
Jan 06, 2026
219. Revealing More Than We Intended featuring Lora Arbrador
Dec 30, 2025
218. Honoring Our Own Momentum featuring Gretchen McGowan
Dec 23, 2025
217. Writing Real Sex in Memoir featuring Sarah Gallucci
Dec 16, 2025
216. Multidisciplinary Approaches to Memoir and Consuming Art in All Its Forms featuring Elizabeth Rynecki and Tony Kaplan
Dec 09, 2025
215. Getting to the Heart of Spiritual and Awakened Memoir featuring Sarah Chauncey
Dec 04, 2025
214. Dismantling Tropes and the Feeling of Being Other featuring Kaila Yu
Dec 02, 2025
213. Who We Are After Mother Loss featuring Tamara Jong
Nov 25, 2025
212. Setting Your Writing Apart: A Conversation with Four Editors - Diane Gottlieb, Jennifer Fliss, Nina B. Lichtenstein, and Ronit Plank on Manna Songs: Stories of Jewish Culture and Heritage
Nov 20, 2025
211. Writing About Ourselves and Others with Nuance and Complexity featuring Edgar Gomez
Nov 18, 2025
210. Why It’s Never Too Late to Move Forward featuring Anne Abel
Nov 11, 2025
209. Reclaiming Identity and Trusting Our Own Process featuring Heather Sweeney
Nov 04, 2025
208. Leaning into and Trusting the Particularity of Our Story featuring Kelly Foster Lundquist
Oct 28, 2025
207. Growing as a Person and as a Writer featuring Shigeko Ito
Oct 21, 2025
206. Changing the Culture of Abuse and Family Dysfunction Through Memoir featuring Leslie Johansen Nack
Oct 14, 2025
205. Pushing Boundaries and Experimenting with the Flash Form featuring Sue William Silverman
Oct 09, 2025
204. Trusting the Right Structure Will Snap Into Place featuring Ren Cedar Fuller
Oct 07, 2025
203. Confronting the Dark and Embarrassing and Giving Ourselves Grace featuring Gina Tron
Sep 30, 2025
202. Mining Metaphor and Exploring Divisions within Ourselves featuring Jocelyn Jane Cox
Sep 23, 2025
201. Cultivating Interiority and Combating Self-Censorship featuring Gaar Adams
Sep 16, 2025
200. Resurrecting the Child You Once Were and the Mother You Had to Let Go featuring Bridey Thelen-Heidel
Sep 09, 2025
199. Being Gentler with Ourselves Throughout the Creative Process featuring Sarah Boon
Sep 04, 2025
198. Discovering and Believing in Our Own Voice featuring Michael Jamin
Sep 04, 2025
197. Making Meaning from Our Own Life featuring Melissa Fraterrigo
Sep 02, 2025
196. Structuring a Memoir Around a Medical Mystery featuring Gail Eisnitz
Aug 28, 2025
195. Incorporating Magic and the Occult in Memoir featuring Alex DiFrancesco
Aug 26, 2025
194. The Body As Writing Portal featuring Nina B. Lichtenstein
Aug 21, 2025
193. When Art is How We Survive featuring Sonita Alizada
Aug 19, 2025
192. Portraying Complicated Love For a Parent featuring Maura Casey
Aug 14, 2025
191. Memoir as a Time Capsule featuring Linda Trinh
Aug 12, 2025
190. The Most Honest, Brave, and True Thing You Can Say featuring Amber Rae
Aug 07, 2025
189. Trusting our Intuition and Staying True to Our Vision featuring Amy Mackin
Aug 05, 2025
188. Reckoning with and Writing About Being Raised by Parents with Mental Illness featuring Natasha Williams
Jul 31, 2025
187. Forgiving Ourselves, Forgiving Others featuring Ed Latimore
Jul 29, 2025
186. Broadening a Memoir’s Scale, Accessibility, and Audience featuring Mallory McDuff
Jul 24, 2025
185. Searching Hard for Self featuring Katy Grabel
Jul 22, 2025
184. Writing About Childhood Sexual Abuse without Reliving It featuring Dr. Stacey Hettes
Jul 15, 2025
183. Becoming the Hero of Our Own Story featuring Deb Miller
Jul 10, 2025
182. Rewriting a Story About Medical Trauma featuring Kate Gies
Jul 08, 2025
181. Proof of Life featuring Jennifer Pastiloff
Jul 01, 2025
180. Making Peace with a Past You Can’t Change featuring Niko Stratis
Jun 26, 2025
179. Taking Risks with Genre and Form featuring Erica Stern
Jun 24, 2025
178. Fragmented Forms, the Speculative, and Resisting Restriction featuring Marty Ross-Dolen
Jun 19, 2025
177. The Loss of a Lifetime featuring Alyson Shelton and Lynn Shattuck
Jun 17, 2025
176. Using the Tools of Fiction to Move Readers featuring Maureen Stanton
Jun 10, 2025
175. Book Promotion 101 Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Leah Paulos of Press Shop PR
Jun 05, 2025
174. Hybrid Memoir as a Means to Sift Through Experience and Mitigate Shame featuring Jill Damatac
Jun 03, 2025
173. Paying Attention to Our Deepest Desires and Illuminating What We Need to featuring Ruthie Ackerman
May 29, 2025
172. Doing the Unfinished Business of Raising Ourselves featuring Daria Burke
May 27, 2025
171. When Writing Constraints Liberate Our Work featuring Tom McAllister
May 22, 2025
170. Reverse Outlining for Emotional Resonance and Hammering Out a Narrative Arc featuring Bonny Reichert
May 20, 2025
169. Boat Baby featuring Vicky Nguyen
May 15, 2025
168. Resisting Erasure and Crystallizing Our Lived Experience Through Memoir featuring KB Brookins
May 13, 2025
167. Keeping the Reader in Mind and Protecting Ourselves When Writing About Pain featuring Michelle Yang
May 06, 2025
166. What’s Ours to Tell featuring Julie Brill
Apr 29, 2025
165. Writing About Disability on a Granular Level featuring Margaret Anne Mary Moore
Apr 22, 2025
164. A Memoir with Reflection and Prompts featuring Diana Raab
Apr 17, 2025
163. Losing Mothers and Finding Them Again Through Memoir featuring Rebe Huntman
Apr 15, 2025
162. Finding Patterns and Switching Lenses featuring Bridgett M. Davis
Apr 08, 2025
161. Writing to Our Past Self featuring Megan Williams
Apr 03, 2025
160. Falling Outside the Containers of What’s Expected featuring Paul Lisicky
Apr 01, 2025
159. Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life featuring Maggie Smith
Mar 25, 2025
158. Writing About a Past Where You Weren’t Present featuring Karen Kirsten
Mar 18, 2025
157. The Boundaries and Distance We Need to Tell Certain Stories featuring Paula Delgado-Kling
Mar 13, 2025
156. Taking Power Back with the Stories We Are Called to Tell featuring Diane Vonglis Parnell
Mar 11, 2025
155. Grappling with Contradictions and Leaving Readers Room to Decide featuring Martha S. Jones
Mar 06, 2025
154. Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: a Memoir in Essays featuring Nicole Graev Lipson
Mar 04, 2025
153. How We Are Haunted featuring Sarah Jaffe
Feb 27, 2025
152. Grief Journeys and Storytelling as Closure featuring Susan Lieu
Feb 25, 2025
151. Putting the Less Than Heroic Parts of Ourselves on the Page featuring Casey Mulligan Walsh
Feb 18, 2025
150. Writing a Memoir in Three Months featuring Barrie Miskin
Feb 13, 2025
149. Writing Someone Else’s Story featuring Kanya D’Almeida
Feb 11, 2025
148. Shedding False Identities and Being Our Own Best Champion featuring Sari Botton
Feb 06, 2025
147. Writing About Your Neurodiverse (ex)Partner featuring Eleanor Vincent
Feb 04, 2025
146. Permission to Be Ourselves featuring Minelle Mahtani
Jan 28, 2025
145. Limitation as an Engine for Creativity featuring Jarod K. Anderson
Jan 21, 2025
144. Theme as Blueprint for Structure featuring Sarah Gormley
Jan 14, 2025
143. Attention, Selectivity, and Deep Curiosity featuring Paula Whyman
Jan 13, 2025
142. So Woven It’s Whole: Complexly Braiding Science and Memoir featuring Eiren Caffall
Jan 07, 2025
141. Tapping Into Our Bodies and Our Subconscious featuring Nadia Colburn
Dec 31, 2024
140. A Love-Hate Social Media and Publishing Relationship featuring Kristen Van Nest
Dec 24, 2024
139. Stepping Outside the Box featuring Jennifer Lang
Dec 17, 2024
138. Pivoting from the Scholarly to the Very Personal featuring Anne Cheng
Dec 10, 2024
Season Announcement and More!
Dec 05, 2024
137. The Burden of Family Secrets featuring David Tereshchuk
Dec 05, 2024
136. The Wise Narrator on the Page featuring Rachel Zimmerman
Dec 03, 2024
135. Reckoning with What We Need to Write and Learning to Stop Punishing Ourselves featuring Sarah LaBrie
Nov 26, 2024
134. In Service of Your Story featuring Steve Hoffman
Nov 19, 2024
133. Breaking Through Internal Barricades and Going Deep featuring Seth Lorinczi
Nov 14, 2024
132. Writing Lyrically About the Perceptual Richness of Altered Sight featuring Naomi Cohn
Nov 12, 2024
131. Legitimizing Our Own Experience Through Memoir featuring Anne Pinkerton
Nov 07, 2024
130. Writing Memoir As a Mother-Daughter Team featuring Dorothy and Rachel Leland
Nov 05, 2024
129. Staying True to Our Creative Vision featuring Gina Troisi
Oct 31, 2024
128. Deep Memoir featuring Jennifer Selig
Oct 29, 2024
127. Re-Archiving Traumatic Memories Through Memoir to Help Forget in Healthy Ways featuring Jay Baron Nicorvo
Oct 24, 2024
126. Writing with a Sense of Exploration and Curiosity featuring Lilly Dancyger
Oct 22, 2024
125. The Many Different Versions of Ourselves on the Page featuring Brooke Champagne
Oct 17, 2024
124. Excavating a Sister’s Story featuring Deborah Kasdan
Oct 15, 2024
123. Balancing the Child and Adult Voice featuring Katya Cengel
Oct 08, 2024
122. Uncovering a Lost Family History featuring Margaret Juhae Lee
Oct 01, 2024
121. Allowing Scenes and Dialogue to Do The Work featuring Becky Ellis
Sep 24, 2024
120. What Remains Unsolved In Us featuring Jaclyn Moyer
Sep 19, 2024
119. Leaning into Honesty, the Darkly Funny, and the Jewish featuring Gila Pfeffer
Sep 17, 2024
118. Memoir Manifestos and Taking Back Our Power featuring Jessica Buchanan
Sep 10, 2024
117. Inviting Readers Into Our Most Intimate Spaces featuring Myra Sack
Sep 05, 2024
116. Going Viral and Going to Auction featuring Geraldine DeRuiter
Sep 03, 2024
115. Dismantling the Fear About Sharing Our Stories featuring Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD
Aug 29, 2024
114. Thinking Like an Editor, Meaty Bylines, and Mitzvahs featuring Susan Shapiro
Aug 27, 2024
113. The Forgiveness Tour featuring Susan Shapiro
Aug 27, 2024
112. Deep Love, Deep Honesty featuring Lola Milholland
Aug 20, 2024
111. Making, Loving, and Losing Family featuring Jessica Fein
Aug 13, 2024
110. Coming to Grips with Vulnerability on the Page featuring Danielle M. Bryan
Aug 06, 2024
109. A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy featuring Tia Levings
Jul 30, 2024
108. Paying Attention to What Intrudes on Us and Confronting Ghosts featuring Sonya Huber
Jul 23, 2024
107. Writing Complicated Mother-Daughter Relationships featuring Hyeseung Song
Jul 16, 2024
106. Recording and Producing Your Audiobook featuring Justin Billmeier
Jul 11, 2024
105. The Toxicity of Shame featuring Meg Kissinger
Jul 09, 2024
104. What We Can’t Shake featuring Joseph Lezza
Jul 02, 2024
103. Overcoming Imposter Syndrome featuring Deesha Dyer
Jun 25, 2024
102. Honoring Our Stories and Authentic Selves featuring Melanie Brooks
Jun 18, 2024
101. The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Grief featuring Lisa Keefauver
Jun 13, 2024
100. Holding Space to Write the Truth of Our Lives featuring Linda Joy Myers
Jun 11, 2024
99. Reclaiming Our Voice, Story, and Agency featuring Hannah Sward
Jun 04, 2024
98. The Immersive, Lyric Memoir and Becoming Unstuck from Shame featuring Anne Gudger
May 28, 2024
97. A Conversation with Nonfiction Director at Ballantine Books Sara Weiss
May 21, 2024
96. Memoir Through A Mythic Lens featuring Maureen Murdock
May 14, 2024
95. The Gift of a Late Diagnosis and a Life of Service featuring Vickie Rubin
May 09, 2024
94. Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow featuring Steve Almond
May 07, 2024
93. The Situation and the Story featuring Ms. Vivian Gornick
Apr 30, 2024
92. Protecting Ourselves When Writing About Others featuring Cait West
Apr 25, 2024
91. The Arc of Reflection and The Arc of Action featuring Sue William Silverman
Apr 23, 2024
90. Allowing Ourselves to Be Seen featuring Kathleen Dorothy Blackburn
Apr 18, 2024
89. The Shame Around Shame and Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia featuring Kate Manne
Apr 16, 2024
88. Digging to Find a Deeper Story featuring Suzette Mullen
Apr 09, 2024
87. Trusting Your Readers, Trusting Yourself featuring Mimi Zieman
Apr 04, 2024
86. Season 4 is here! Writing About Trauma Without Retraumatizing Ourselves featuring Lisa Cooper Ellison
Apr 02, 2024
85. Having Roots and Losing Them: Writing About the Crisis in Venezuela Through Memoir featuring Paula Ramón
Mar 26, 2024
84. Guilt, Infertility, and Documenting Reproductive Rights in Memoir featuring Ellen Weir Casey
Mar 21, 2024
83. The Vulnerability of Writing About Difficult Motherhoods featuring Karen DeBonis
Mar 19, 2024
82. Loving and Writing About an Imperfect, Magnificent Child featuring Cathy Shields
Mar 14, 2024
81. Self-Declared Spiritual Gurus, Secret Mantras, and Yoga Cults featuring Joelle Tamraz
Mar 12, 2024
80. Realizing You’ve Actually Been Writing Your Book featuring Rona Maynard
Mar 07, 2024
79. Understanding How to Let Go featuring Ann Batchelder
Mar 05, 2024
78. The Very Good News About Publishing featuring Brooke Warner
Feb 27, 2024
77. Following Creative Hunches and the Magic of Revision featuring Joni B. Cole
Feb 22, 2024
76. How to Capture a Feeling: the Specific and Particular featuring Jane Wong
Feb 20, 2024
75. Working with Developmental Editors and Book and Proposal Coaches featuring Lisa Niver
Feb 15, 2024
74. Depicting Complex Relationships and Calibrating Metaphor in Memoir featuring Rosa Lowinger
Feb 13, 2024
73. Putting Child Loss into Words featuring Eileen Vorbach Collins
Feb 06, 2024
72. The Leaving Season featuring Kelly McMasters
Jan 30, 2024
71. Memoir on Stage featuring Jamie Brickhouse
Jan 23, 2024
70. Saying Goodbye and Why We Write About the Hard Things featuring Morgan Baker
Jan 18, 2024
69. Complicated Family Legacies and Heaps of Material featuring Gretchen Cherington
Jan 16, 2024
68. Building Bylines, Crafting Book Proposals, and Pursuing Editors featuring Dina Gachman
Jan 09, 2024
67. The Stories Landscapes Hold and the Presence of Absence featuring Pamela Petro
Jan 02, 2024
Dear Let’s Talk Memoir listeners,
Dec 27, 2023
66. Embracing our Writing Seasons featuring Victoria Buitron
Dec 26, 2023
65. Authenticity, Recovery, and Advocating for Survivors in Memoir featuring Maya Golden
Dec 19, 2023
64. Memoir in Present Tense and Reprocessing Our Lives Through Writing featuring Sherry Sidoti
Dec 12, 2023
63. Writing That Gets Noticed featuring Estelle Erasmus
Dec 07, 2023
62. When Memoir Brings Loved Ones Closer featuring Lena Lee
Dec 05, 2023
61. A Diagnosis, the Toll of Shame, and a Life of Service featuring Martina Clark
Nov 30, 2023
60. Confronting and Capturing the Complexity of Our Parents on the Page featuring Priscilla Gilman
Nov 28, 2023
59. Marketing Your Memoir, Preparing for Book Launch, & Going Viral featuring Laura Carney
Nov 21, 2023
58. Choosing The Scenes That Stay featuring Leslie Ferguson
Nov 14, 2023
57. Writing About Mother-Daughter Relationships featuring Adiba Nelson
Nov 07, 2023
56. Memoir in Miniature featuring Jennifer Lang
Nov 02, 2023
55. The Witches of Pitches on Building Platform, Creative Querying, and Stalking Editors featuring Aileen Weintraub and Megan Margulies
Oct 31, 2023
54. The Truest Story You Can Tell featuring Jill Christman
Oct 24, 2023
53. Trusting Patterns Will Emerge featuring Kate Evans
Oct 17, 2023
52. Approaching Traumatic Material with Complexity and Compassion featuring Brittany Means
Oct 10, 2023
51. Compressing Material and Managing Timelines featuring LL Kirchner
Oct 05, 2023
50. Discovering the Narrative Voice Your Memoir Needs featuring Heather Lanier
Oct 03, 2023
49. Creating a Writing Life on Our Own Terms featuring Patty Lin
Sep 26, 2023
48. Writing into Structure featuring Clare Frank
Sep 19, 2023
47. Relentless in Revision featuring Dinty W. Moore
Sep 12, 2023
46. Still Life at Eighty featuring Abigail Thomas
Sep 05, 2023
Season 3 is launching soon!
Aug 29, 2023
Season 2 is Wrapped!
May 30, 2023
44. Intergenerational Trauma & Truth-Telling in Sam Now featuring Reed Harkness
May 23, 2023
43. Trusting Our Writing Selves featuring Gayle Brandeis
May 16, 2023
42. The Deeply Researched Memoir featuring Jennifer Lunden
May 09, 2023
41. Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden featuring Camille T. Dungy
May 02, 2023
4p The Spiritual Memoir featuring Sarah Birnbach
Apr 25, 2023
39. Processing Grief with Words featuring Candace Cahill
Apr 18, 2023
38. You Could Make This Place Beautiful featuring Maggie Smith
Apr 11, 2023
37. Sharing A Dangerous Story featuring Erika Bornman
Apr 04, 2023
36. Writing What You Have To featuring Sandi Wisenberg
Mar 28, 2023
35. From Blog to Book featuring Stacey Freeman
Mar 23, 2023
34. Excavating Cultural Identity in Memoir featuring Jasmin Faulk-Dickerson
Mar 21, 2023
33. Finding the Themes in Your Story featuring Debbie Weiss
Mar 14, 2023
32. The Intersection of Race, Privilege, and Addiction in Memoir featuring Laura Cathcart Robbins
Mar 07, 2023
31. Language, Lyricism, and Sound featuring Suzanne Roberts
Feb 28, 2023
30. The Magic of Dialogue featuring Felicia Thai Heath
Feb 21, 2023
29. Co-Authoring a Memoir featuring Vincent Paterson and Amy Tofte
Feb 14, 2023
28. Resisting Self-Pity in Memoir featuring Maria Giura
Feb 07, 2023
27. Protecting What We Create From Our Own Judgment featuring Buick Audra
Jan 31, 2023
26. Memoir in Essays and Experimental Forms featuring Beth Kephart
Jan 24, 2023
25. Discovering the Story You Need to Tell featuring Lori L. Tharps
Jan 17, 2023
24. The Editor We All Need featuring Allison K. Williams
Jan 10, 2023
23. The Acceptance of Imperfection featuring Kathy Curto
Jan 03, 2023
22. Writing a Memoir About The Mother Who Betrayed You featuring Author Laura Davis
Dec 27, 2022
21. Inside Passage: The Waterfield Sisters on Their Fractured Childhood and the Redemptive Power of Memoir and Music featuring Keema Waterfield and Tekla Waterfield
Dec 20, 2022
20. No Job for a Man featuring John Ross Bowie
Dec 13, 2022
19. Writing About Family Secrets featuring Isidra Mencos
Dec 06, 2022
18. Crafting a Braided Memoir featuring Jamie Gehring
Nov 29, 2022
17. The Role of the Reflective Narrator featuring Lily Dunn
Nov 22, 2022
16. Voice First featuring Sonya Huber
Nov 15, 2022
Season 2 launching soon!
Oct 21, 2022
15. Memory, Truth, and Memoir featuring Dr. Virginia Campbell
Jun 14, 2022
14. The Divided Self in Memoir featuring Phillip Lopate
Jun 07, 2022
13. The Case for Generosity in Memoir featuring Judy Bolton-Fasman
May 31, 2022
12. Making Your Manuscript Shimmer featuring Laura Davis
May 24, 2022
11. Yes, Your Writing Has Value featuring Paulette Perhach
May 17, 2022
10. The Merits of Writing About Trauma with Restraint featuring Kelly Sundberg
May 10, 2022
9. Writing About Our Children featuring Debi Lewis
May 03, 2022
8. A Conversation with Writing and Publishing Expert Jane Friedman
Apr 26, 2022
7. Writing Your Story for Yourself featuring Melissa Gould
Apr 19, 2022
6. Not Too Soon, Not Too Much: Stories That Insist on Being Told featuring Meg Weber
Apr 12, 2022
5. Doing Whatever it Takes to Get Yourself to Write featuring Andrea Ross
Apr 05, 2022
4. Finding the Thread featuring Ellen Blum Barish
Mar 29, 2022
3. Putting it All on the Page: The Good, the Bad, and the Heartwrenching featuring Christie Tate
Mar 22, 2022
2. The Transformation of Trauma featuring Jeannine Ouellette
Mar 15, 2022
1. Who Am ”I”?--Character vs. Narrator featuring Debra Gwartney
Mar 15, 2022
Trailer: Let’s Talk Memoir
Mar 02, 2022