Memoir Agents

It’s time to meet another awesome debut writer. This time it’s narrative writer Jack Gray, Emmy Award-winning producer for CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.” Born and raised in Massachusetts, he previously worked as a television producer in New Hampshire and Boston. He lives in New York City with his Labrador retriever, Sammy. Find him on Twitter.

PIGEON IN A CROSSWALK (Feb. 2013, Simon & Schuster) is a nonfiction book in which Gray observes and echoes the fixations and neuroses of his generation and our times. Publishers Weekly said “With humor and heart, Gray uses his recollections as a sentimental, sassy mirror into his own personal and professional affairs.” Entertainment Weekly called the book, “Addictive… Gray’s insight and snarky, self-effacing humor make him someone you’d want at any dinner party.” Read more

Debut memoirs are very exciting to examine because a lot of people want to write about their life, and interviewing success stories can help others illuminate paths to publishing success. Today we meet Rayya Elias, whose debut memoir came out in April 2013. It’s called HARLEY LOCO: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk From the Middle East to the Lower East Side.

Regarding the book, Publishers Weekly called it, “[A] compulsively page-turning memoir…Haunting and mesmerizing, Elias’s story captures powerfully the vulnerability of being an outsider and the deep yearnings to be a part of something.” Read more

I have always loved interviewing debut authors, both for the GLA Blog, and for Writer’s Digest magazine. Today, I’m happy to interview author Judy L. Mandel. These interviews are a great way to learn more about how new writers got published and found their literary agents.

Judy L. Mandel is the author of REPLACEMENT CHILD: A MEMOIR (Seal Press, March 5, 2013). She began her career as a journalist, branched out to public relations, and settled in corporate marketing, where she worked for more than 20 years as a marketing director for several Fortune 100 companies. Mandel is now a student in the MFA program of Stony Brook Southampton and lives in Connecticut with her husband. Read more

Ben Rawlence is the author of RADIO CONGO: SIGNALS OF HOPE FROM AFRICA’S DEADLIEST WAR (2012, One World). In this debut, Rawlence sets out to gather the news from this ghost town in one of the most dangerous places in the world. Ignoring the advice of locals, reporters, and mercenaries, he travels by foot, motorbike, and canoe, taking his time and meeting the people who are rebuilding their homes with hope, faith, and nervous instinct. We meet characters such Benjamin, the kindly father of the most terrifying Mai Mai warlord; Leya, who happily gives up a good job in Zambia to return to her razed town; Colonel Ibrahim, a guerrilla turned army officer. Rawlence shares the real story of Congo during and after the war, and finds not just a lost city but the seeds of a peaceful future. Read more