Life Is a Hybrid: Crossing Genre Boundaries in Memoir

A panel discussion with Alexandria (Alex) Marzano-Lesnevich, Emily Maloney, Chris Feliciano Arnold, Ruth Behar and Joshua Rivkin.

Memoirs are becoming weirder and wilder, going beyond the writer’s life to incorporate journalism, ethnography, true crime, cultural criticism, poetry, and even fiction. Mixing genres, writers layer their work, chasing the complexity of life. But why (and when to) choose to mix it up? What research challenges or opportunities await? And how do you escape categorization when it’s time to publish? Memoirists—some with multiple books and some with debuts—offer practical insights on transgressing genre.