The following is an excerpt from Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s new memoir, Not Now, Voyager. Be sure to read Rebecca Touger’s interview with the author on writing, travel, and living abroad.
Orkos
I woke abruptly, to a darkness so thick I could breathe it in. My mind was ominously alert, none of that blurry, dream-clogged puzzlement that usually [...]

Wade Rouse headed for the woods with a copy of Walden and a vision of remaking himself in rural life. Things didn’t go quite according to plan. Read an interview with Rouse about his new memoir.

The following is an excerpt from Wade Rouse’s new memoir, At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream. Be sure to check out our interview with him about the book, his writing process, and life without designer shoes.
Coonskin Cap
There’s a raccoon on my head.
And I don’t particularly look good in hats.
Especially when they’re [...]

Chris Teja interviews Jack McLean about his new memoir, Loon, a first-person account of his long and unpredictable journey from confused teenager to Marine to, finally, student at Harvard University.

The following is an excerpt from Loon: A Marine Story, Jack McLean’s memoir about joining the Marine Corps in the mid-sixties. Be sure to check out Chris Teja’s interview with McLean.
Chapter One
June 6, 1968.
It had already been a long day, and dawn had yet to break.
On his hands and knees, Bill Matthews scampered up over [...]

Rebecca Touger interviews Danzy Senna, author of Where Did You Sleep Last Night? Senna’s memoir is an account of a childhood complicated by divorce and racial identity, and of a search through both sides of her family’s history for answers.

The following is the opening passage from Danzy Senna’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night: A Personal History. The memoir chronicles her family’s history and their complicated racial identities. And be sure to read Rebecca Touger’s interview with Senna.
In 1975 my mother left my father for the last time. We fled to Guilford, Connecticut. It [...]

Ramen enthusiast Ty Wenger talks to Andy Raskin about his new memoir, The Ramen King and I, a book that’s about much more than instant noodles.

The following is the preface from The Ramen King and I: How the Inventor of Instant Noodles Fixed My Love Life. And be sure to read Ty Wenger’s interview with author Andy Raskin.
“It is said that real human nature reveals itself under extreme conditions. As I starved in prison, I realized that eating was one [...]

Satirist Joe Queenan finds a lot of things funny, but not his childhood. He grew up poor in the projects, where his alcoholic father was better at beating his children than holding down a steady job. Queenan talks about his new memoir, Closing Time.