Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative

AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLERMemoir meets craft master class in this daring, honest, psychologically insightful exploration of how we think and write about intimate experiencesa must read for anybody shoving a pen across paper or staring into a screen or a past (Mary Karr)In this bold and exhilarating mix of memoir and master class, Melissa Febos tackles the emotional, psychological, and physical work of writing intimately while offering an utterly fresh examination of the storytellers life and the questions which run through it.How might we go about capturing on the page the relationships that have formed us? How do we write about our bodies, their desires and traumas? What does it mean for an authors way of writing, or living, to be dismissed as navelgazingor else hailed as so brave, so raw? And to whom, in the end, do our most intimate stories belong?Drawing on her own path from aspiring writer to acclaimed author and writing professorvia addiction and recovery, sex work and academiaMelissa Febos has created a captivating guide to the writing life, and a brilliantly unusual exploration of subjectivity, privacy, and the power of divulgence. Candid and inspiring, Body Work will empower readers and writers alike, offering ideasand occasional notes of cautionto anyone who has ever hoped to see themselves in a story.