The Power of Memoir: Lily Dunn & Blake Morrison in conversation - Gower St

Lily Dunn and Blake Morrison will be in store discussing their latest books on the power and importance of memoir writing.

Into Being is an essential guide to writing memoir as radical and empowering storytelling. Drawing on her experience as an author and a teacher of creative writing, Lily Dunn presents the ground-breaking idea that the craft of memoir itself can offer a form of transformation.

Dunn sets out to demystify the memoirist’s art, helping readers to find meaning in raw experience and elevate the personal to the universal. She considers intriguing questions, from why our memories give greater significance to certain events while glossing over others, to how we can write honestly without intruding too far into the lives of our loved ones. She also explores how writers are extending the memoir form, borrowing from biography and fiction, poetry and the lyric, to create something hybrid, playful and subversive.

On Memoir is a delightful compendium of musings from the master of life writing, the much-loved Blake Morrison, for those who practise the art of memoir, and those who read it.

It is a gloriously freewheeling exploration of narrative non-fiction, its challenges, ethics and charms, and its power to move and change us. From AI to Ethics to Politics to Sex, there is something for every reader and writer in this modern classic.

Gleaned from a lifetime as a passionate reader of others’ lives, as well as an unflinchingly honest chronicler of his own, Morrison’s A-Z is a trove of thoughtful literary exploration, amusing observations, and fascinating finds.

Lily Dunn is a memoirist, teacher and mentor. Her literary memoir Sins of My Father was published to great acclaim in 2022, being named a best nonfiction book of the year by the Guardian and the Spectator. She is also the author of Shadowing the Sun (2007) and co-editor of A Wild and Precious Life (2021). She is co-director of London Lit Lab and teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University.

Blake Morrison (born 8 October 1950) is an English poet and author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. His greatest success came with the publication of his memoirs And When Did You Last See Your Father? (1993), which won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography and was made into a drama film of the same title. He has also written a study of the M**der of James Bulger, As If (1997)

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Waterstones