Let’s Talk Memoir

Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about  going through almost a decade of conversion therapy, dismantling the dogma of pseudo science with its added layer of spiritual discipline, feeling desperate to change, yearning for a place to belong, keeping faith without losing soul, holding onto journals with the sense of using them someday, the difficulty of having to revisit traumatic experiences, weaving in dark humor, being a present-day witness to the past and honoring the more innocent, naive version of ourselves, getting sober and writing from a place of peace, making discoveries in the memoir-writing process, the importance of platform for nonfiction authors, being present and active on social media before our memoirs  come out, being a queer person of faith, loving the present day person we’ve become, and his new memoir Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging.   Also in this episode:-finding a writing community-the generosity of other writers-having a therapist on speed dial Books mentioned in this episode:-Boy Erased by Garrard Conley-All Down Darkness Wide by Sean Hewitt-Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott-How to Write an AUtobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee-books by David Sedaris-books by Augusten Burroughs   Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez spent almost a decade in gay conversion therapy—all while working behind the scenes at some of the most influential Evangelical Christian megachurches. After embracing his identity as a gay Christian and stepping away from church work, he co-founded Church Clarity, an organization that helps queer people find affirming faith communities. His story and work have been featured by BBC Newshour, TIME, NBC, VICE, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and Religion News Service. Born in the Midwest, he now calls New York City home, where he continues his work as a writer, digital strategist, and advocate for queer people of faith. His first book is Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging. Connect with Timothy: Website: https://www.conversiontherapydropoutbook.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timothy.s.rodriguez Threads: https://www.threads.com/@timothy.s.rodriguez Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@timothy.s.rodriguez Substack: https://timothysrodriguez.substack.com   –Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit:https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlankhttps://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social  

Dr. Craig Yorke joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about the toll of centuries of bigotry, being consumed by race, growing up with psychological financial desperation, living other people’s lives, rethinking what Black studies are, processing shame, shedding identities assigned to us, the use of memory for liberation, being ruthless in our writing and revision process, the steep climb toward clarifying ourselves, bringing neuroscience to life, inviting people to wake up to how our history has controlled us, delighting in surprise, and his new memoir: STEEP: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey.   Also in this episode:-growing up with scarcity-the price of success-listening for the music in our writing   Books mentioned in this episode:The Beautiful Brain:The Drawings of Santiago Ramon Y Cajal by Larry W. SwansonOn Writing Well by William ZisnerComfortable with Uncertainty by Pema ChodranThe Fire Next Time by James BaldwinArt is Therapy by Alain De BottonBrown by Kevin YoungHow the Word is Passed by Clint SmithThe poem “Four Quartets” by T.S. Elliot Dr. Craig Yorke was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He received a BA from Harvard College in 1970 and an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1974. His parental directive insisted he avenge centuries of bigotry with a life of infinite success. After a neurosurgical residency at the University of California at San Francisco, he and his wife Mary found their way to an unlikely destination. He practiced in Topeka, Kansas, for 25 years, wrestling with his history and the armored identity it had imposed. He and Mary raised two admirable boys, Zack who lives in Brooklyn and Chris who calls Seattle home. Dr. Yorke brews coffee for two each morning in the colonial home they’ve occupied for 33 years. He’s a credible violinist, having played the Bruch G Minor concerto with the Boston Pops at 17, and hits tennis balls with passion. Steep is his first book.   Connect with Craig:Website: https://www.craigyorke.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570269755209   Purchase book:https://www.amazon.com/Steep-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Craig-Yorke/dp/1953583989/ https://bookshop.org/p/books/steep-a-black-neurosurgeon-s-journey-craig-yorke/c5808fe0489a778c?ean=9781953583987&next=t&aid=107402&listref=our-authors-books –Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.comSubscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplankFollow Ronit:https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlankhttps://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social

After four years of Let’s Talk Memoir, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for being here and share a few exciting updates about what’s ahead for the podcast.In this short episode, I talk about some changes coming in Season 8, new ways to connect with the show and memoir community, and a few things I’ve been quietly working on behind the scenes.Thank you for listening, supporting the show, and being part of this space for writers, readers, and storytellers. I’m so excited for what’s next. Ronit’s in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story –Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.comSubscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplankFollow Ronit:https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlankhttps://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social

Monica Macansantos joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about organizing her collection of essays around her father’s very sudden and unexpected passing, not being sure she could write again, when common themes begin to emerge, connecting with loved ones through writing, recognizing and exploring complicated relationships with a home town and home country, feeling othered, the literary scene in the Phillipines, how writing takes a level of privilege, modeling literary citizenship, deepening our narrative journeys and allowing ourselves to go places we didn’t plan, growing up in a colonized land, leaning into the discomfort of writing, giving shape to grief, taking risks, and her new essay collection Returning to My Father’s Kitchen.   Ronit’s in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story  https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode:-gatekeeping in writing-thinking about what home is-when the puzzle pieces come together   Books mentioned in this episode:The Art of Revision by Peter Ho DaviesThe Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco Memorial Drive by Natasha TrethewayThe Memory Eaters by Elizabeth The Second Tree from the Corner by E.B. Whitecut after 37:40-37:54 start 37:55 begin “I think I connected”   Monica Macansantos is the author of the essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2025), and the story collection, Love and Other Rituals (Grattan Street Press, 2022). She was a 2024-25 Shearing Fellow with the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, and a 2025 Marguerite & Lamar Smith Fellow with the Carson McCullers Center in Columbus, Georgia. Her work has recently appeared in Electric Lit, River Styx, Lit Hub, Bennington Review, and Poor Yorick, among others. Her honors include a James A. Michener Fellowship from the University of Texas at Austin, and residencies from Hedgebrook, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Storyknife Writers Retreat, the I-Park Foundation, and Monson Arts.    Connect with Monica: Website: https://monicamacansantos.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madamebutchay/ Bluesky: @missmacansantos.bsky.social   Purchase Book: Purchase Returning to My Father's Kitchen from Northwestern University Press: https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810148390/returning-to-my-fathers-kitchen/ Or from Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/returning-to-my-father-s-kitchen-essays-monica-macansantos/8c4605e505fd4de8?ean=9780810148390&next=t&next=t Or from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Fathers-Kitchen-Essays/dp/0810148390/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 –Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.comSubscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplankFollow Ronit:https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlankhttps://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social  

Jacque Gorelick joins Let’s Talk Memoir for a conversation about growing up missing a mother, surviving a fractured family and worrying you’re broken in unfixable ways, how her husband's medical crisis upended her life as a new mother, letting our inner selves be cared for, protecting a space where a mother should be, owning our story, gathering all the pieces for structure, weaving in backstory to strengthen the stakes, including letters and managing time in memoir, telling the truth as we know it,  taking risks, how we’re never finished, and her new memoir Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home.   Ronit’s in-person Fall Workshop - Writing Dynamic Memoir: From Lived Experience to Gripping Story  https://www.lmcmurtrylitcenter.org/workshops/writing-dynamic-memoir-from-lived-experience-to-gripping-story   Also in this episode:-coping strategies-letting our guard down-being once mothered, motherless, and unmothered Books mentioned in this episode: Bird by Bird by Anne LamottThe Art of Memoir by Mary KarrFast Draft Your Memoir by Rachael Herron  Jacque’s essays about family, motherhood, estrangement, education, and health have appeared or are forthcoming in The New York Times, Salon, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Kenyon Review, Pithead Chapel, X-R-A-Y, Healthy Women, The Washington Post, HuffPost and more.  After spending her fractured childhood in search of home and belonging, Jacque spent her adult life working with children and families. She has a degree in psychology and a graduate degree in education with an emphasis in early childhood development. She has always been fascinated with how family shapes and defines us, and how we ultimately choose to define it for ourselves.  A California native, Jacque has lived all over the West Coast from Santa Barbara to Alaska. Now firmly rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area, she lives beside a creek under redwood trees with her husband, two boys, and a mélange of rescues. To find out more about Jacque and her work visit her website at jacquegorelick.com.   Connect with Jacque: Website: https://www.jacquegorelick.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacque.gorelick/ IG @jacgorelick: https://www.instagram.com/jacgorelick/ Threads @jacgorelick: https://www.threads.com/@jacgorelick Substack: Heartmatters https://jacquegorelickheartmatters.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips Purchase book via Bookshop:https://bookshop.org/p/books/map-of-a-heart-a-memoir-of-love-loss-and-finding-the-way-home-jacque-gorelick/9daeff1a91645131?ean=9783988322265&next=t –Ronit’s writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer’s Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.comSubscribe to Ronit’s Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplankFollow Ronit:https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlankhttps://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social