Memoirs in the Making – Janette Ayachi, Marjorie Lofti Gill, Terri White

What is it that motivates writers to tackle the memoir? Why do we capture a whole life in a book, and what do writers consider worthy of documenting in their pages? These are just some of the questions that percolates in poet Michael Pedersen’s mind after releasing his own, exploring the friendships that have come to define his life.

As part of his ReMemoir Me? strand, Michael talks to three writers – Marjorie Lotfi Gill, Janette Ayachi and Terri White – writers who have been through the memoir process in various stages in progress to ask just these things – the mystical allure of the format, the process of revisiting an entire life to curate and filter it. Why, after other creative endeavours across poetry and fiction, do many turn to the big life book?

Part of Paisley Book Festival 2023