Cover Photo: Two human figures in silhouette having a conversation
Photograph by Etienne Boulanger/Unsplash

A Memoir Should Be a Conversation, Not a Monologue

It’s about suggesting, right there on the page, that the writer is no more important than the reader.

New York Times Book Review

havethis is what happened to me

meaningYour future might live in my past

Leaving Before the Rains Come

An American Childhood

I

most truly

Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap

There Will Be No Miracles HereThe IcebergH Is for Hawk

Spare me the universal talkWhat happened to me is enough.

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of three dozen books in multiple genres and an award-winning teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. Her new memoir in essays is Wife | Daughter | Self (Forest Avenue Press). Her new craft book is We Are the Words: The Master Memoir Class, from which this essay was adapted. More at bethkephartbooks.com.