My Story Memoir interviewTag

"I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Been More Vulnerable in My Life" Brent LaPorte on His Raw, Moving Memoir & His Father's Difficult Legacy

CW: abuse, suicide, substance abuseSometimes, even questions without answers need to be voiced — to be heard and acknowledged, if only as a cry of the heart. Such is Brent LaPorte's wise, difficult, ...

"Female Fighters Have Always Embodied the Struggle for Equality" Alison Dean on Combat Sports, Violence, & Memoir

Picture a boxer: Sweating, bruised, determined. Maybe eying an opponent with gritty concentration.Any chance you're picturing a woman? When "you hit like a girl" is still a common criticism, and when ...

A "Book Behind Which No Part of Me Could Hide": Andrea Actis' Poetic Memoir of Grief & Loss is Stunning

Content warning: death in the family, grief. It's an unimaginable scene: returning home one night in 2007, Andrea Actis entered her Vancouver apartment to discover her father, lying dead. The aftermath ...

"I Didn’t Realize How Damaged I Had Become" Firefighter Bryan Ratushniak's Memoir is Powerful, Honest, & Moving

The image of a firefighter is an emotionally charged one: a person who literally exists to save us from one of the most inherently terrifying forces in the world. It's a heavy mantle both figuratively ...

Eamon McGrath on Exploring the Pressure Cooker of Life in a Touring Band

While there's nothing quite like seeing your favourite band play live, the reality of life on the road for musicians can be complicated, stressful, and sometimes surreal. No one knows that better than ...

"Your Past Inhabits Your Present" Emily Urquhart on Why Creativity Has No Age Limit

There's no age limit on creativity, and yet there's often an assumption that the most innovative and vital work comes from the young. Bestselling author and journalist Emily Urquhart doesn't buy that ...

"There's a Story Behind My Mom's Death That I Felt Had to Be Told" K.B. Thors on Digging Deep with Her New Memoir-In-Verse

In her new memoir-in-verse, Vulgar Mechanics (Coach House Books), poet K.B. Thors takes the reader on a dark, redemptive journey from heartbreaking loss to spiritual rebirth. Themes of grief, sex, and ...

"I’m Something Else. Something in Between." Sonja Boon on Exploring Identity and Belonging in her New Memoir

Sonja Boon's memoir What the Oceans Remember (Wilfrid Laurier University Press) is a wise and deeply researched meditation on both her own family history and current issues in migration and identity. ...

Songwriter Dayna Manning Opens Up About Music, Change, & Connection in Her First Memoir

As a singer, songwriter, producer, and sound engineer, Dayna Manning is a musical talent on several fronts. Honoured with nominations for a Juno Prize and the Polaris Prize (as part of her folk trio, ...

Joel Adam Struthers' Memoir Offers a Fascinating, Myth-Busting Account of the French Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion, a branch of the French army, is one of the most famous military organizations in the world. Joel Adam Struthers tells his story of six years as a legionnaire (and more specifically ...