April 5, 2022
A Hard Silence — An AIDS Story with Melanie Brooks
Melanie Brooks, author of Writing Hard Stories, reads from her memoir manuscript, A Hard Silence, which shares her perspective on what it was like to grow up living with the deep secret that her father contracted AIDS in 1985 from a tainted blood transfusion.
January 11, 2018
A Conversation With Melanie Brooks
"Every time I sat down with one of these writers and listened to them talk candidly about their own journeys, I found similarities in their processes and mine, and listened to their encouragement that always included the promise that I would get to a place where I felt differently about my story, where I could breathe a little bit easier. " - Melanie Brooks
January 9, 2019
Meet Our Memoirists: Melanie Brooks
"When I commit words to the page, I’m embarking on a rigorous and intentional act of self-reflection. As a memoirist, though, my journey doesn’t stop there. By writing through my stories, I’m engaging in an act of community. I’m seeking language that bridges my experiences with those of others, and I’m hoping that my words will open space for their words." - Melanie Brooks
January 17, 2018
The 9 Best Books on Writing Memoir
I'm honored to have Writing Hard Stories featured in a memoir book roundup on Signature Reads, Penguin Random House's reading blog, among so many books that have been influential to my own writing process.
May 18, 2017
How Do Memoirists Survive Telling Their Hard Stories?
“It’s not about necessarily letting the story go, but it’s kind of re-envisioning it in a way that it doesn’t become such a burdensome thing. Writing about it will, in some way, change the story for you or change the way you carry that story.” - Melanie Brooks
February 5, 2017
Hippocampus Magazine Interview
"Interacting with people—that’s the idea behind this Melanie’s book. Writers sharing the stories behind their stories with one writer, who then shares those stories, and her own, with others. Conversations that can heal and inspire, a conversation that’s perhaps just getting started.' - Donna Talarico, Hippocampus Magazine
January 6, 2017
Ploughshares Review: Writing Hard Stories
"For writers struggling with the next step of their journeys, Brooks’ work is a signpost showing them the way, urging them onward, offering companionship, and ultimately proving that the destination is already well within sight, even if they can’t yet see it. " - Amanda Silva, Ploughshares
April 24, 2018
Boston Voyager's Most Inspiring Stories
"I believe there’s deep merit to giving this narrative shape to our painful stories. Writing about traumatic experiences do not repair them. However, re-entering those memories, taking them apart, and then putting them back together again on my own terms, has transformed them into something meaningful, maybe even beautiful, for me and, I hope, for my readers, too." -Melanie Brooks