Greetings, Memoirists!

While there's a lot that you can take from resources on both fiction and nonfiction, memoir is its own art form.

Here is a roundup of inspiring memoir listening as well as some excellent books to get you started.

Recommended episodes of The Secret Library Podcast about Memoir:

• Ruth Reichl was brilliant speaking about her most recent book, Save Me the Plums

• Raynor Winn on living and writing The Salt Path, the runaway bestseller

• Susannah Conway on the process of writing several books including This I Know, her memoir about the sudden death of her partner

• Michelle Kuo on writing about her experiences with Teach for America in the deep south in her memoir Reading with Patrick

• Scott Stabile on Big Love, his memoir on the murder of his parents, and the impact of writing it on his family.

• Alison Pataki, a successful historical fiction writer on being driven to write her memoir, Beauty in the Broken Places

Essential Reading for Memoirists:

• Now Write! Nonfiction is a resource full of prompts and insight for all nonfiction, including memoir

• William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, tackles issues pertaining to memoir in Writing About Your Life

• Mary Karr, the master, shares how she does it in The Art of Memoir

This should get you started, but if you're still stuck these will help.