Best of Memoir, featuring Mary Karr and Elizabeth Gilbert

Our next A+ August mash-up features two of Brooke’s absolute favorites—Mary Karr and Elizabeth Gilbert. Mary’s episode, In Defense of Memoir, is a deep dive into memoir writing, while Liz’s, Following the Thread of Your Inspiration. Both guests have been so influential to this genre, and this wide-ranging conversation will leave any aspiring writer motivated to get writing—and don’t forget to go back and listen to the full interviews in our archives.

ABOUT MARY KARR AND ELIZABETH GILBERT

Mary Karr is an award-winning poet, essayist, songwriter, and memoirist from East Texas. She’s the author of the memoirs The Liars’ Club, Cherry, and Lit. She has written five critically acclaimed poetry collections, the bestselling The Art of Memoir, and she’s a regular contributor to The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Poetry magazine. Karr is the Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University and lives in New York City.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir, Eat Pray Love, exploded onto the scene in 2006. A #1 New York Times bestseller, Eat Pray Love has sold over 13 million copies. In her nonfiction treatise, Big Magic, she unpacks her own generative process and shares her wise, witty insights into the mysteries of curiosity and inspiration. Her latest novel, City of Girls, is a fiercely feminist story of a young woman coming into her own in the theater world of 1940s New York. City of Girls is Gilbert’s third novel and eighth book.