AustLit

'This article focuses on the trauma memoir as an identifiable type of creative writing. It begins by tracing its popularity, especially in the 1990s, in the process recognising what can be proposed as key works internationally, many of which—but not all—are American, as well as how these texts were received by critics and readers, in order to place the Australian trauma memoir in this broader context. The so-called ‘misery memoir’ is also discussed. As little investigation has focused on the Australian trauma memoir as a form of memoir, this article will profile some (mostly recent) examples of Australian trauma memoir in order to begin to investigate what these texts contribute to our understanding of the trauma memoir as a form of creative writing. This recognises debates over the literary and social value of memoirs.'  (Publication abstract)

Host Jennifer Byrne joins regular panelists Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger, and guests Michael Williams and Leigh Sales to discuss "Five of the Best", including Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski, Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread, The Whites by Harry Brandt, Relativity by Antonia Hayes and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.