Marian Leibold has published two collections of poetry with Modern Memoirs. Her first book, entitled Forever Now: The Interconnectedness of All Things, was published in 2020. The second book, entitled Bridges: Visible and Invisible, came out this year. We interviewed Leibold about her first project in the October 2022 edition of “Reflections” and caught up with her again this month—National Poetry Month—to find out more about her second one. “Poetry often functions as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious parts of ourselves, much the way a melody or song blends those same aspects ..read more

This post is the ninth in a series-in-progress by company president Megan St. Marie about heirlooms and objects related to her family history that she keeps in her office to inform and inspire her work at Modern Memoirs. A print of this painting of a white horse once hung in the Vermont farmhouse of Megan St. Marie’s great-grandparents Alfred “Fred” Damian Lambert and Anastasie “Tazzie” Lambert, and now now hangs in her Modern Memoirs office. Read on for more information Fred Lambert standing in front of his farmhouse in Highgate, Vermont with his Percheron workhorses, Dick (left) and Dan (r ..read more

A BLOG POST BY PUBLISHING INTERN OLIVIA GO New York City, 2024 On the last day of class, my creative writing professor at Smith College quoted Rilke: If one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn’t write at all. “It’s not worth the agonizing,” he explained. After ten weeks of laboring over our creative pieces, all nine of us students knew exactly the agony he was referring to: the grief of establishing your voice, plagued by constant self-doubt, all to create something that in six months that might make you cringe. Hands clasped, my professor continued in a serious tone ..read more

Harold Hirshman published his book entitled Sketches from Memory and More with Modern Memoirs in 2023. This Assisted Memoir is an expanded edition of his first book, Sketches from Memory, published here in 2005. The recent project took just six months from the day he contacted us to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Hirshman to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his books with others. 1. In volume one, you describe “how hard the task of remembering is,” and you say that writing is better than photography at recapturing mome ..read more

Tucker H. Byrd published his book entitled “No Excuses” Love, Dad with Modern Memoirs in 2023. This collection of daily notes to his young son took just two months from the day we started the project to the day books arrived on his doorstep. We asked Byrd to reflect on what the publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book with others. 1. Your book is a compilation of the 170 inspirational notes—colorfully handwritten on index cards—that you slipped into the backpack of your son every day during his fourth-grade year (2019–2020). What was your intention in givi ..read more

From far away, I imagine I resembled an inkblot on a sheet of notebook paper, my dejected form silhouetted against the relentless glare of the snowy mountain slope. Paralyzed on the left margin of the “page,” I watched helplessly as other figures slid from top edge to bottom, gliding like droplets of ink that somehow resisted being absorbed into the “paper.” I had all the equipment I needed to continue down the mountain, my skis and poles lying flat on the snow beside me, and I had taken several skiing lessons in the days prior. I could see in my mind’s eye the swooping curves I needed to mak ..read more

The Magic Lantern Stories edited by Joyce and Gary Phillips Have you ever seen a Magic Lantern? Not the kind you rub to make a genie appear! The Magic Lantern I’m referring to is a 17th-century invention, precursor to the slide projector of the 20th century. (I realize I’m dating myself by even referring to a 20th-century slide projector.) To begin, I must go back to last month, December 2023, when I succumbed to my first case of COVID and was forced into isolation at home, in my bedroom. With hours and hours of free time, I took up a number of activities I hadn’t had time for in the past thr ..read more

David B. Dearinger published his book entitled A Southern Madam and Her Man with Modern Memoirs in 2023. After a decade of family-history research, this dual biography of two of Dearinger’s ancestors took one year and two months from the day he first contacted us to the day books arrived on his doorstep and became available for sale. We asked Dearinger to reflect on what the research and publication process was like for him, and what it has meant to share his book. 1. Your book describes the lives of your great-grandparents Susie Tillett and Arthur Jack. She ran brothels in Lexington, Kentuck ..read more

Carell Laurent published her book entitled “Pignics” and What Holds Us Together with Modern Memoirs in 2023. This cookbook took nine months from the day she first contacted us to the day books arrived on her doorstep. We asked Laurent to reflect on what the publication process was like for her, and what it has meant to share her book with others. 1. Your cookbook is organized into collections of recipes from the many places you lived with your family as your father’s work with the United Nations from 1960 to 1986 took you to Ghana, Madagascar, New York, Sri Lanka, and Haiti. Each section is i ..read more

Detail of Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait 1889, oil on canvas Writing a memoir, like creating any work of art, requires thousands of choices along the way. They may not feel like monumental choices—using a nickname instead of a formal name, say, or whether to include that little story from college—but each one is, in fact, a brushstroke in the portrait of you. It follows that there is no one true memoir of your life, but millions of possible versions dependent on your decisions. Ideally, this is a liberating realization for a memoir writer, but it can also induce some anxiety. Out of an entir ..read more