The June Lineup: Has it really been two years?
This Tuesday, June 10 is going to be one hell of a party.
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Hello dear memoir lovers,
Two years ago I started this series with little more than a love of memoir and a fear of losing the writing community I’d started building during my two years in an MFA program. I was so mesmerized by the time I spent surrounded by my mentors and other aspiring authors, and I knew it was something I needed to hold onto as tightly as I could. So Must Love Memoir began. It was born out of a deep appreciation and respect for real, honest, stories and I am so proud of what it continues to do each month.
The fact that we are about to celebrate two full years of this feels a little surreal to me. I often hear from attendees of our readings that the welcoming and safe space feels like a reprieve from how messed up the world is and that is exactly what it is for me. It’s a reminder that human connection is not only important, but essential to our survival. Learning from each other’s experiences encourages empathy and allows us to form a deeper understanding of what it means to walk in someone else’s shoes.
Creating and sharing this space with you each month will continue to be one of my best accomplishments. I hope you will come out and celebrate with me and Hope as we welcome this EPIC lineup for our two year anniversary. It is practically guaranteed to be one of our best events to date! And as long as you keep showing up to these events each month, we’ll keep doing this.
♥️ ,
Krystal (and Hope) (and Gunther)
June Lineup
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 7:30pm
Joanna Rakoff is the author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the bestselling novel A Fortunate Age. She has been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Sewanee, Bread Loaf, Jerome Foundation, Authors’ Guild, PEN, Ragdale Foundation, Art OMI/Ledig House, and Saltonstall. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Elle, Porter, and elsewhere, and her new memoir, The Fifth Passenger, is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2024.
Veena Dinavahi is an Indian American writer who divides her time between Connecticut and New York. Her personal essays have appeared in The Rumpus and Pulp Magazine. She holds a degree in psychology from Columbia University and currently works in the fashion industry. The True Happiness Company is her first book.
Jessica Hoppe is a Honduran Ecuadorian writer and the author of First in the Family (Flatiron Books, 2024), which was selected by Esquire, People, San Francisco Chronicle, Marie Claire, Latina Media, and HipLatina as one of the best memoirs of 2024. Named a writer to watch by Publishers Weekly (Fall 2024), Hoppe's work has appeared in the Latino Book Review, The New York Times, Vogue, and elsewhere. Hoppe is a board member of Time of Butterflies, a nonprofit supporting families through domestic abuse recovery, and is an organizer with the CentAm & Isthmian Writers group. She lives in New York City.
Nina St. Pierre is queer essayist and culture writer whose work has appeared in Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, The Cut, Gossamer, Outside, and more. She is a 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Nonfiction Literature and holds an MFA from Rutgers. Her debut memoir, Love is a Burning Thing, a story of fire, mysticism, and madness, was published May 7 from Dutton Books.
Lindsey Trout Hughes is a writer, editor, and performer. A former columnist at Catapult, her writing has also appeared in Bright Wall/Dark Room, The Audacity, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She is Head of Programming at the London Writers’ Salon and Assistant Books Editor at Barrelhouse. Lindsey is a member of Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. She holds an MFA in acting from The New School and lives in Brooklyn.
Krystal Marie Orwig is a writer and cat mom to an orange cuddly guy who moonlights as a hairdresser. She is the founder and co-host of Must Love Memoir, a New York City reading series dedicated to nonfiction writers. She writes regular content for Static Media and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York — where she also teaches English Composition and undergraduate Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Everyday Health.
