Permission
The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create
by Elissa Altman
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Pub Date Mar 11 2025 | Archive Date Mar 11 2025
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Description
Who am I to tell my story? And how can we grant ourselves permission to write the stories we’re compelled to tell when we've been told we shouldn't?
Without fail, almost every writer—new or experienced—has faced dire questions of permission and story ownership: there is something that they want to write about, that they need to write about. Yet: they can’t. They have been warned not to. They might be paralyzed with shame, threatened with shunning, chastened into silence. Even if what they need to write about has defined them and their worldviews.
But what if they did? What if you did?
After writing three critically-acclaimed memoirs and a decade of teaching memoir workshops at every level, Elissa Altman has helped students face the elephant in every writer’s room: how to craft the stories that are most vital to them despite the voices that have told them not to. Permission is a master course, not only on how to craft memoir, but how to begin and keep going when you’ve been told you can’t, and how to how to give yourself permission to transcend the fear that keeps vital stories from being written.
We are the storytelling species; this book will inspire and guide all creatives to a place of transformation, of freedom from the constraints of shame and fear in all their forms, and to the understanding and recognition of the ethics of story-making, art-making, truth-telling, and creative soul-saving.
A Note From the Publisher
Most aspiring writers choose the memoir over any other genre--often for therapeutic reasons. This book will help any memoirist but most especially those seeking to tell difficult stories, often buried under many years of silence.
The author's techniques were honed through many years of workshops with aspiring writers.
The author will tour. Expect strong media attention as the central concern of this book is not how to write a memoir but how to achieve personal liberation through storytelling, telling the story you must tell.
Already endorsed by both Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird) and Katherine May (Enchantment). Permission will appeal to readers of both authors.
Advance Praise
“Elissa Altman’s marvelous, passionate and charming new book, Permission, is going to breathe freedom into your life. It is a clarion call for writers to tell their hard, lifelong truth, no matter how many decades they have agreed to stay silent. Lies and cover-ups won’t save you. This book just might.”
—Anne Lamott, author of Somehow
“I can’t think of a better book on the craft of memoir. Erudite, wise and deeply personal, Permission burrows into the complexity of telling our own stories. This is a masterclass.”
—Katherine May, author of Wintering
“With Permission, Elissa Altman has given us a profound and generous gift. She candidly addresses the slipperiest questions behind making art from life: Can I tell my story? What are the risks and rewards? How do I care for myself—and others—in the process? There are only a handful of books I recommend every time I teach, without fail, and Permission will be one of them. This insightful, empowering book should be on every writer’s shelf.”
—Maggie Smith, author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful
Marketing Plan
Lead title for Spring
Terrific blurbs already in from Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird) and Katherine May (Enchantment)
Strong Indie Next contender (nomination deadline: January 2025 for this March pub)
Author gives workshops year round and will tour. Possible special bookstore events around memoir writing.
The author has appeared everywhere from Book Passage in California (her last event was with Anne Lamott) and Rizzoli in NY, to Print in Portland Maine, Books & Books in Miami, Parnassus in Nashville, Brookline Booksmith (three times, all sold out), and her local store in Connecticut (Hickory Stick).
She has also spoken at the 92nd St Y, the Woodstock Book Festival, Miami Book Fair, among others.
Elissa loves speaking to readers, and has also done a lot of high vis podcasts, NPR, etc. She is already booked to do a Kripalu “Permission” weekend (Stockbridge, Massachusetts) right around the time of publication.
ARCs and a DRC coming soon to Edelweiss.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781567927634 |
| PRICE | $30.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 232 |
