Into Being
The Radical Craft of Memoir and its Power to Transform
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Manchester University Press
Publishing:7th Oct '25
£16.99
This title is due to be published on 7th October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

The acclaimed author of Sins of My Father shares the secrets of writing a new, transformative kind of memoir.
Into being is an essential guide to writing memoir in a radical and empowering way. Drawing on her experience as a memoirist and a teacher of creative writing, Lily Dunn presents the ground-breaking idea that the craft of memoir itself can offer a form of transformation.
Dunn demystifies the memoirist’s art, helping readers to find meaning in raw experience and elevate the personal to the universal. She considers intriguing questions, from why our memories give greater significance to certain events to how we can write honestly without intruding too far into the lives of our loved ones. She also explores how writers are extending the memoir form to create something hybrid, playful and subversive.
In an age of social media, filled with confessions, re-inventions and distortions of the self, the question of what it means to be an individual is more urgent than ever. Into being shows readers how to turn writing memoir into a journey of discovery – one that can be shared with the whole world.
‘A beautiful book: absorbing, propulsive, generous and humane, both in its honesty and in its willingness to share process.’
Marina Benjamin, author of The Middlepause: On Turning Fifty
‘A profound examination of the value of memoir for both writer and reader, with practical advice on how to access emotionally meaningful events. Lily Dunn’s Into being is the essential guide to all things memoir.’
Richard Beard, author of The Day That Went Missing
‘Into being could not be more timely. Life writing, memoir and autobiographical storytelling are culturally prevalent and Lily Dunn has provided us with a sensitively written, wise and insightful combination of advice, reflection and theory. An instant classic that I will be using in my teaching and writing life.’
Suzanne Joinson, author of The Museum of Lost and Fragile Things
ISBN: 9781526179258
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
248 pages