Welcome to Memoirs of a Nisha!
I had to be cheeky...
It’s happening! Not only am I writing my memoir, but I’m reviving this Substack from 2019 (before people even knew what Substack was)!
If you love raw, vulnerable, and gut-punching memoirs that open you up to a different way of knowing, welcome! I’m starting this newsletter because reading memoirs and paying attention to their craft is immensely helpful as I write my own.
For now, the themes of my memoir-in-progress are enoughness, being a daughter of South Asian immigrants, and navigating my mother wound. How fitting that I’m sending this out on Mother’s Day…
In Memoirs of a Nisha (teehee), I will share reviews about memoirs I have read and talk about what I will (or won’t) incorporate into my own. And I’ll share about my memoir writing journey as I’m reading. It will be a juicy feedback loop!
To kick this off, my first memoir review will be about Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon.
I started my memoir journey after publishing several essays. Most recently, I published an essay about beauty, darkness, patriarchy, and redemption in Monstress in Kajal Magazine. I wrote about my father’s death in the now retired Entropy Magazine in The Currents Can Change. And I wrote about my abusive marriage and divorce in Why I Brag About My Divorce in Ravishly and Will You Be Nice to Me? in The Rumpus (scroll to the 2nd story).
Aside from being a writer, I’m a Life Coach for Liberatory Dreamers. If you wanna be on the list where I talk more about that, subscribe here and check out my website here.
Also, I’d love to hear from you (or comment with something else):
What a great idea to document your memoir research and reviews in this way as you work on your own memoir. I can't wait to read it, I can relate with so many of the issues you're writing about.
Absolutely love the title of your substack (and psyched that I get the reference too haha)! I'm currently exploring the idea of writing a memoir vs autofiction, and I'm going to see where my writing and reading journeys take me. The themes of your memoir-in-progress resonate so much and matrilineal relationships are going to be a key theme in what I plan to write too. Looking forward to following along your journey!