Into Being

The Radical Craft of Memoir and Its Power to Transform

By: Lily Dunn

Narrated by: Lily Dunn

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 radical and empowering memoir. 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 listeners to find meaning in raw experience and elevate the personal to the universal. She considers compelling 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 listeners how to turn writing memoir into a journey of discovery–one that can be shared with the whole world.

©2025 Lily Dunn (P)2025 Manchester University Press

Stunning

Thank you Lily Dunn for allowing me to articulate to myself why I’m struggling through this manuscript. An important craft book I will share with students.