Spend time with six great writers. Discover all they’ve learned about crafting the personal stories of a lifetime.
We’re proud to announce the Five Things I’ve Learned Memoir Collection. Six celebrated memoirists sharing all they’ve learned from their own writing experience — and the essential demands the form asks of every writer who attempts it.
Now, with a single purchase of just $99, you can explore complete two-hour sessions hosted by some of our favorite writers:
Andre Dubus III — award-winning writer, teacher, and author of the memoirs Townie and Ghost Dogs — who shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the fluid, subjective nature of memory, and about the ways writers can genuinely share and illuminate themselves in their writing.
Adam Gopnik — legendary New Yorker writer, essayist, and author of the memoirs Paris to the Moon, Through the Children’s Gate, and At the Strangers’ Gate — who shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the mysterious alchemy of rules, practices, and inner secrets that memoir writers can best apply to their own work.
Ann Hood — award-winning writer, teacher and author of the memoirs Fly Girl, Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, and Do Not Go Gentle— who shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to bring focus to a singular slice of your life in ways that produce the story you want to read and write.
Allison Moorer — singer, songwriter, and author of the memoirs Blood and I Dream He Talks to Me — who shares the Five Things She’s Learned about offering her family’s stories in prose and in song, and about all that taking ownership of our most personal stories makes possible.
Susan Orlean — acclaimed journalist and author of the memoir Joyride — who shares the Five Things She’s Learned while writing her recent memoir, and about the approaches sure to be of help as you share your own personal history.
Matthew Specktor — novelist, cultural critic, screenwriter and author of the memoirs The Golden Hour and Always Crashing the Same Car — who shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the powerful ways that the imagination can operate in nonfiction writing, and how reality can add truth and ballast to fiction.
These on-demand classes are now available for special purchase. You can view them on-demand immediately, and return to them as often as you’d like.
Want to know more?
Watch a Replay of the first five minutes of each Five Things I’ve Learned session on our Substack. Learn more by viewing the personal video introduction to each session – and get The Memoir Collection at myfivethings.com.
Andre Dubus III — award-winning writer and teacher — shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the fluid, subjective nature of memory, and about the ways writers can genuinely share and illuminate themselves in their writing.
View the first five minutes of Andre’s two-hour class, right here on substack.
Adam Gopnik — best-selling author, essayist, public speaker, lyricist and libretto writer — shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the mysterious alchemy of rules, practices, and inner secrets that memoir writers can best apply to their own work.
View the first five minutes of Adam’s two-hour class, right here on Substack.
Ann Hood — award-winning author and teacher — shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to bring focus to a singular slice of your life in ways that produce the story that you want to read and write.
View the first five minutes of Ann’s two-hour class, right here on Substack.
Allison Moorer — singer, songwriter, and memoirist — shares the Five Things She’s Learned about offering her family’s stories in prose and in song, and about all that taking ownership of our most personal stories makes possible.
View the first five minutes of Allison’s two-hour class, right here on Substack.
Susan Orlean — acclaimed journalist and author — shares the Five Things She’s Learned while writing her recent memoir, and about the approaches sure to be of help as you share your own personal history.
View the first five minutes of Susan’s 90-minute class, right here on substack.
Matthew Specktor — novelist, memoirist, cultural critic, and screenwriter — shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the powerful ways that the imagination can operate in nonfiction writing, and how reality can add truth and ballast to fiction.
View the first five minutes of Matthew’s two-hour class, right here on substack.
Get the full memoir collection and enjoy any time.
As always, thanks for being part of Five Things I’ve Learned.