Writing Our Lives: Natasha Trethewey & Lucy Sante on Memoir Writing

In this episode, 2007 Poetry winner/incumbent Pulitzer Board member Natasha Trethewey and 2025 Memoir finalist Lucy Sante convene at the 2026 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference (AWP) for a conversation about how the literature of personal experience can connect to larger narratives of race, historical erasure, gender, queerness and class.

The author of the acclaimed, New York Times-bestselling 2020 memoir Memorial Drive, Trethewey is a two-time U.S. Poet Laureate and nonfiction writer. Lucy Sante is a renowned cultural critic whose memoir I Heard Her Call My Name was named a Best Book of the Year by multiple media outlets.

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference is an annual event that attracts over 10,000 writers, writing students, educators, publishing professionals and many others. Its 2026 conference took place in Baltimore.

You can find a transcript of this episode here. 

This conversation was edited from the live event, details of which are here. 

Learn more about Pulitzer on the Road and our upcoming events here. 

Learn about AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) here.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may enjoy these previous episodes from the show:

• Jayne Anne Phillips and Viet Thanh Nguyen: On Writing and War
• Barbara Kingsolver in Appalachia