Host Aki, joined by co-hosts Brian and Seyi, welcomes acclaimed memoirist Dawn Davies for an episode filled with laughter, wit, and the insight of a masterclass in narrative nonfiction. From her memoir Mothers of Sparta to her work-in-progress Birds of a Feather(working title), Dawn explores how to transform lived experience into compelling stories, drawing inspiration from literary greats including Kurt Vonnegut, Lauren Slater, and Paul Fussell.
The conversation delves into the challenge of organizing individual essays into a cohesive memoir, revealing how some pieces emerge in a single six-hour burst while others can take a decade before they're ready. Dawn reflects on the evolution of her writing and, looking back at Mothers of Sparta, jokes that she'd line edit the published edition with every writer's familiar teacher's note: "See me!"
Dawn also offers a candid look at publishing with one of the Big Five, sharing why the experience isn't always rainbows, and discusses how her prose and voice have evolved over the years. The conversation concludes with her more recent work in autopathography and the launch of Prestivus, her blind-submission literary press built on merit-based selection, where the writing stands on its own without bias for or against the author. Whether you're writing a memoir, personal essays, or narrative nonfiction, this episode is packed with practical wisdom on structure, voice, revision, and finding the courage to tell your own story.
Dawn Davies website
Prestivus
Keywords: Richard Brautigan, Paul Fussell, Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions, University of Florida, autopathography, Within Your Reach by the Replacements, John Irving, Shooter, Dennis Lehane, Florida International University, John Dufresne, Eckart, Writers in Paradise, Eckerd College, Madeleine Blais, James Frey, Million Little Pieces scandal, Lauren Slater, Michel de Montaigne, The Tralfamadorians, plotters vs pantsers, McSweeney’s, Béla Bartók, aphantasia, Amy Einhorn, Flatiron Publishing, George Saunders, Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers controversy, Colson Whitehead, Alan Moore’s Jerusalem, Howard Dully’s My Lobotomy, co-authored with Charles Fleming, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, trama porn, Tina Yong's talk on the phenomenon of "trauma essays" in higher education, José Saramago’s Blindness, Lyn Barrett, Prestivus.
Enigma by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100241
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
