Writer Lily Dunn joins host Jessie Huth for a wide-ranging conversation about writing memoir, finding a voice, and what it takes to tell the truth on the page.

Drawing on her latest book Into Being Lily reflects on the power and transformative potential of memoir, the role of editing in shaping a voice, and why memoir is rarely about revelation alone. She speaks candidly about writing her critically acclaimed memoir, Sins of My Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unraveling, the emotional and ethical complexity of writing about family, and what happens when private stories enter the public world.

Together they explore authenticity, memory, and the vulnerability of publication, as well as the ways in which writing can be empowering and sustaining. This is a thoughtful, honest conversation about creativity, self-inquiry, and finding your voice as narrator.

Topics covered

Into Being and the long process of developing a writing voice
Sins of My Father and the complexities of writing about family
The role of editors in shaping memoir
Psychoanalysis, reflection, and self-inquiry in writing
Authenticity, vulnerability, and being read
Writing as an empowering and healing practice

Keywords

voice, women’s voices, writing, creativity, memoir, personal narrative, family, truth-telling, Lily Dunn, Sins of My Father, Into Being

About Lily Dunn

Dr Lily Dunn is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, an editor and a lecturer at Bath Spa University. Her memoir, Sins of my Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unravelling won The Guardian Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2022. Her latest book, Into Being: the radical craft of memoir and its power to transform is an essential guide to writing memoir as a radical and empowering practice.

Lily co-founded the London Lit Lab at Birkbeck University in London, where she teaches creative writing. Her specialisms include memoirs, personal essays and narrative nonfiction.

Books mentioned

Into Being by Lily Dunn

Sins of My Father by Lily Dunn