#151: Melissa Febos — The Art of Memoir: Turn Life Into Art, Undoing Shame, and Choosing The Artist’s Life

London Writers' Salon

Celebrated writer and memoirist Melissa Febos on the art of the memoir, the alchemy of personal experience and literary craft, and how to turn the raw material of life into art. We also her latest book, The Dry Season, where she examines the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes Febos found during a year of celibacy.

We also talk about:

- Writing the unspeakable and undoing shame.

- The role of research and personal obsession in memoir.

- Finding structure through inventory, list-making & reflection.

- Balancing vulnerability with privacy on the page.

- How Melissa decides what’s hers to tell—and when.

- Her advice on discouragement, creative play & sustaining the practice.

ABOUT MELISSA FEBOS

Melissa Febos is the nationally bestselling author of four books, including Girlhood, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, and Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative. She has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, LAMBDA Literary, the British Library, and more. Her essays appear in The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Best American Essays. She is a full professor at the University of Iowa and lives in Iowa City with her wife, poet Donika Kelly.

RESOURCES & LINKS:

📑 Interview Transcript (forthcoming)

• Order a Signed Copy of The Dry Season
• Pre Order The Dry Season
• The Dry Season
• Melisa’s Website
• Whip Smart
• Abandon Me
• Body Work
• “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard
• Belgian Beguines

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