What compels writers to share their private stories? Rupert Christiansen, Aida Edemariam, Sigrid Rausing and Philippe Sands discuss writing memoir.

What compels writers to share their private stories? Rupert Christiansen’s memoir, I Know You’re Going to be Happy, tells of the devastating consequences of his father’s abandoning his wife and children in the 1950s. Christiansen chairs a discussion with three fellow memoirists. Aida Edemariam’s book about her Ethiopian grandmother, The Wife’s Tale, is published in February. Sigrid Rausing’s Mayhem: A Memoir attempts to show another side to the tabloid headlines of her sister-in-law’s fatal overdose. Philippe Sands is the author of East West Street, a memoir of his grandfather, two legal professors, the city of Lviv, and an examination of the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials.

Recorded on: March 13, 2018
Recorded at: British Library Knowledge Centre