Podcast
Memoir Nation
Hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner · EN
Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing journey. Originally launched as Write-minded in 2018, this is a weekly writing podcast that focuses on memoir and personal writing, as well as industry trends and tips and resources for writers and authors.
Memoir Nation features a segment called Book Alley at the end of each episode to talk about recent memoirs that authors have sent Brooke and Grant, or memoirs they've discovered that are thought provoking or have sparked inspiration. Brooke and Grant bring to this weekly podcast their deeply held belief that everyone is a writer, and everyone’s story matters. Discover more about Memoir Nation at memoirnation.com.
44episodes
Episodes
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Suzette Partido on Writing About the Challenges We Face While Holding onto Hope and Possibility
Jan 1900:48:36Tap to summarizeThis week’s Memoir Nation show shares a story of poverty, and shines light on a particular kind of story that’s much more prevalent than many of us would like to think. Guest Suzette Partido writes in her new book, Love Will Save Us, Right?, about how she slid into poverty, the struggles she and her family face given that everything is uncertain. And yet, this is a book about love and looking out for family, and about how we survive, and how we brace for what we cannot control. This is a tough but also sweet and heartfelt episode about writing into the challenges of our lives without pity—and even with humor. Suzette Partido has worked as a community developer and non-profit organizer for three decades. She trained as an AIDS chaplain, street outreach worker, substance abuse counselor, reproductive health educator, volunteer coordinator, and public speaker. She managed an HHSA community liaison for children's public behavioral health and served as the Director of Education for a local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She lives with her neurodivergent young adult son and her wife inside a ten-by-ten canvas tent in her mother's backyard in San Diego, and her memoir is Love Will Save Us, Right? .See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Jose Antonio Vargas on Life in a Country That Says You Don’t Belong
Jan 1201:01:50Tap to summarizeThis week’s episode is a timely one—an interview with Jose Antonio Vargas, who outed himself as an undocumented immigrant when he started his nonprofit, Define American. His memoir is Dear America, which was updated last year to include new material for living in Trump’s America. In this interview, Jose shares his experiences with ICE and being undocumented in this country, as well as his insights on the Black/white binary, the construction of race, and so much more. We recorded this episode the day after International Human Rights Day—and Jose’s interview, book, and experience gives voice to the realities of who is being targeted by our draconian immigration policies and how it feels. An important listen. Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated theatrical producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the nonprofit immigrant storytelling organization Define American, and he explores all facets of immigration as host of its YouTube show and podcast Define American with Jose Antonio Vargas. His best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published in 2018, with an updated edition in 2025. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will examine America's foundational Black and White racial binary, and where everyone else fits within and outside that binary.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lee Wind on Championing Marginalized Characters
Aug 11, 202500:55:26Tap to summarizeThis week we continue our August celebration of our favorite interviews and themes—and this week we’re going back to two authors who inspired us so much for their advocacy, their championing of non-mainstream characters, and their commitment to the hard work of speaking truth to power. Both of these heartfelt, brave authors had a lot to say about the kinds of characters they want to see in books, why representation matters, and how standing up for what they believe in isn’t so much a choice as a way of being in the world. Very inspiring to bring Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lee Wind’s voices together in this week’s round-up. Maggie Tokuda-Hall is the author Also an Octopus, illustrated by Benji Davies, The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea, Squad, illustrated by Lisa Sterle, and Love in the Library illustrated by Yas Imamura with more books forthcoming. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband, son, and their objectively perfect dog. Lee Wind is a storyteller out to engage, empower, and hold safe space for communities. He is the Chief Content Creator for the Independent Book Publishers Association and the author of multiple books, including the nonfiction titles No Way, They Were Gay? and The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie, the novels Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill and A Different Kind of Brave, and social justice and Queer-history themed picture books. Lee’s popular blog is I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jane Alison and Jeannine Ouellette on Craft and Form
Aug 4, 202500:48:50Tap to summarizeThis week marks the beginning of our August round-ups where we choose our favorite episodes from the prior year as we gear up for our new season. We’re revisiting two of our personal favorite authors and subjects: craft. Tune into Jane Alison and Jeannine Ouellette to glean insight and inspiration about your writing and the structures, forms, playfulness, and directions it can take when you’re attuned to all the possibilities and permutations. Don’t miss Janet Fitch’s August 19th class. Details are online here. Jane Alison is the author of four novels, as well as Change Me, translations of Ovid’s stories of sexual transformation, and Meander, Spiral, Explode, about the craft and theory of writing. Her newest novel is Villa E, about the collision of architects Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier. She is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Virginia. Jeannine Ouellette is the author of the bestselling Substack Writing in the Dark, a creative community of almost 18K people strong. Her lyric memoir, The Part That Burns, was a 2021 Kirkus Best Indie Book and a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award in Women’s Literature, and her essays and short fiction have appeared widely in anthologies and journals, including Narrative, North American Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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John B. King on The Career Memoir
Jul 28, 202500:49:54Tap to summarizeThis week, our final episode of our seventh season, features John B. King Jr., who served in President Barack Obama's cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education. This is a book about mentors who helped King along the way and how he rose in the ranks of public education to eventually be appointed as Secretary. Brooke and Grant discuss what it means to do what you love, and talk about the difference between working to live and living to work. This episode is particularly poignant in light of the current assault against the Department of Education. Book Alley this week features Garrett Glaser's Fairyboy, which explores the hidden world of gay New York before the Stonewall Riots and you can watch a TV spot here. John B. King Jr. served in President Barack Obama's cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education. He has been a high school social studies teacher, a middle school principal, the first African American and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education Commissioner, a college professor, and the president and CEO of the Education Trust, a national education civil rights organization. King is currently the chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), the nation's largest comprehensive system of public higher education. Both of King's parents were career New York City public school educators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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W. Kamau Bell on Creating Conversations in a Complicated, Comedic World
Jul 21, 202500:46:23Tap to summarizeJoin us for a conversation about all the ways our creativity is fueled by our stories—the stories of who we are and what we have to tell. Guest W. Kamau Bell tells stories through so many mediums, and this episode explores his approach to creativity, conversation, and advocacy. We have a couple links we mention in the show that we’re dropping here: 1) a link to Kamau’s Substack, specifically a post from earlier this year about Gavin Newsom; and 2) a link to She Writes Press’s STEP contest that we hope you’ll share widely. W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian, Emmy-winning TV host, filmmaker, author, and podcast creator known for tackling race and social justice with humor and heart. He’s the director of We Need to Talk About Cosby, creator and host of CNN’s United Shades of America, and co-author of Do the Work. Kamau is also the author of the memoir, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell. He blends activism and storytelling across platforms, making space for honest conversations that challenge, connect, and inspire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jeff Hiller on The Celebrity Memoir
Jul 14, 202500:46:16Tap to summarizeThis week Memoir Nation ventures into waters rarely touched except when speaking “about” the topic. Yep, it’s celebrity memoir. Jeff Hiller, author of the new memoir, Actress of a Certain Age, is a celebrity, but only so newly so that we feel he’s an appropriate ambassador of the genre—someone who straddles that otherworldly space and the real world. Grant and Brooke laughed a lot on this show, and we’re happy to report that we have a new bestie in Jeff Hiller. Listen this week so you’ll know how it all got started. And, if you need a laugh—and who doesn’t?—this is just a fun and funny interview on celebrity memoir and so much more. Jeff Hiller is a Peabody‑winning actor (“Somebody Somewhere”), solo storytelling favorite (“Grief Bacon, Middle Aged Ingenue”), and memoirist whose essays reveal the surprising twists behind his “overnight success”—a path shaped by small‑town Texas, UCB improv, social work, and a late‑blooming acting career. He’s also an improv teacher, a proud pet parent, and married to artist Neil Goldberg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Prabal Gurang on Why No Outside Validation Is Needed
Jul 7, 202500:45:26Tap to summarizeMemoir Nation has a touching episode this week with fashion designer Prabal Gurang, who shares about his relationship with his mother, who, in allowing him to pursue his joy, encouraged him also to pursue his dreams of fashion design. We discuss the power of reading a memoir aloud and the emotions that evokes, and about authenticity on the page when you set out just to write the best story you can write—not necessarily coming to your memoir as the best or most trained writer in the world, but rather as someone with a story that matters. Much inspiration here this week! Prabal Gurang is a famous fashion designer who is also a memoirist. His new book, Write Like a Girl, tells the story of his childhood in Singapore and Nepal, education in India, and career in the U.S. fashion industry, where he was subjected to racial discrimination. A reviewer for Kirkus called the memoir “an insightful and entertaining look into the life of a famous fashion designer.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Molly Jong-Fast on Opening a Vein on the Page
Jun 30, 202500:38:58Tap to summarizeMolly Jong-Fast’s new memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, is celebrity memoir meets real literary merit. As fans of Molly’s podcast and political commentary, and also because we had Molly’s mother, Erica Jong, on the show back in 2023, we were eager to connect with Molly to talk about mother-daughter dynamics, the buzz and controversy this book is getting, and—importantly—opening a vein on the page (in the tradition of Erica Jong). This interview explores betrayal, reclamation, dementia, alcoholism, narcissism, the theme of bad mother/bad daughter, and so much more. As Brooke said, this is the kind of nepo baby memoir she can get behind—so come find out why. Molly Jong‑Fast is a contributing writer at Vanity Fair and a political analyst at MSNBC. She also hosts the wonderful podcast, Fast Politics. She’s the author of three previous books—Normal Girl, Girl [Maladjusted], and The Social Climber’s Handbook—and has written for The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Playboy, Glamour, Vogue, and The Forward. Her brand-new memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, just came out this month, and centers among other things her relationship with her mother, the novelist Erica Jong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jennifer Croft on How Illustrations and Photos Inform and Enhance Memoir
Jun 23, 202500:43:11Tap to summarizeThis week Grant and Brooke consider images as enhancements to memoir. Historically publishers have tended to regard images in memoir with reservation, but that’s been changing in recent years. Guest Jennifer Croft’s recent memoir, Homesick, is accompanied by her own Polaroids. When should photos be included, or central? And what are some other memoirs that have been improved by the addition of images? Whether to include images involves many considerations—from your reader, to style, to the interplay between words and image, and Jennifer Croft offers thoughtful insights around this and more. Jennifer Croft is the author of the illustrated memoir, Homesick, and the translator of Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights, for which she won the 2018 International Booker Prize. She won a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship for her novel The Extinction of Irena Rey, the 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Homesick. She is a founding editor of The Buenos Aires Review and has published her own work and numerous translations in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Granta, VICE, n+1, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, BOMB, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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