Into being

The acclaimed author of Sins of My Father shares the secrets of writing a new, transformative kind of memoir.

Into being is an essential guide to writing memoir in a radical and empowering way. Drawing on her experience as a memoirist 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 demystifies 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 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 to create something hybrid, playful and subversive.

In an age of social media, filled with confessions, re-inventions and distortions of the self, the question of what it means to be an individual is more urgent than ever. Into being shows readers how to turn writing memoir into a journey of discovery – one that can be shared with the whole world.

'As astute as it is generous’ – Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood

'A beautiful book: absorbing, propulsive, generous and humane' – Marina Benjamin, author of The Middlepause: On Turning Fifty

'I copied many lines into my own journal.’ – Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun

'A revelatory and vibrant exploration of the transformative power of memoir – an essential read for writers, readers and teachers.’ – Jenn Ashworth, author of Notes Made While Falling