Into being: The radical craft of memoir and its power to transform

by Lily Dunn

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 radical and empowering memoir. 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 compelling 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.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Memoir

240 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Lily Dunn is an author, mentor and educator. Her first novel was published by Portobello Books and her memoir about the legacy of her father’s various addictions will be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in March 2022. She has personal essays in Granta, Litro, Hinterland, MIRonline and The Real Story, and is a regular writer for Aeon magazine. She is in her final writing up year of her doctorate at Birkbeck, University of London, and is interested in how to integrate the therapeutic power of writing with literature. She is editor of A Wild and Precious Life: a collection of stories and poetry from writers in recovery, published by Unbound in May 2021. She teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University and co-runs London Lit Lab.

Reviews

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This was my truth, one which had manifested as an aspect of my personality. But what if we dig deeper into this concept? Was this pattern mine, or was there a fault in the fabric because of my father's neglect? Was this my story or had my story for all these years been determined by someone else's? The story begins to broaden and to shift. If you ask questions of your experience, you begin to see it in the context of other people's stories, a parent's influence, for instance, something that up until now was out of your hands. It becomes not so much fact, but circumstance.” Massively enjoyed Lily Dunn’s new book Into Being: The Radical Craft of Memoir and its Power to Transform, which Manchester University Press very kindly sent me a proof copy of. It felt at times like a bricolage, in the best way, combining personal life writing with readings of other memoirists and texts, interspersed with writing advice and observations on the craft. Dunn threads this all together well, in chapters focusing on such concepts as “moments of insight”, “when memory collides with the imagination”, “the memoirisation of time”, “embodied writing and protect forms”, “who is speaking and where are they standing”, and “our other selves”. Her cogent and breezy prose that belies the depth of her exploration. I enjoyed so much what she had to say about Virginia Woolf, Leslie Jamison, Annie Ernaux, Deborah Levy, Melissa Febos, Joan Didion, Doireann Ní Ghríofa — a real ‘who’s who’ of Jay’s favourite memoirists and/or writers. Among the book’s observations, this was one of the standouts: “Writing is a kind of alchemy that can release a writer from the straitjacket of how they have perceived themselves”. Thanks to Becca from MUP for the proof!

[Anoushka · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Into Being” is a very useful craft book on the writing of memoir. Even as I was reading it, I found myself applying its lessons in my own writing. I have filled several pages in my notebook with quotes and thoughts inspired by it, as well as a list of books to look up.

It is not an austere how-to manual. I found readable and very alive with Dunn’s own experience and writing, and that of certain well-selected authors, including Noreen Masud, Julia Bell, Leslie Jamison, Jenn Ashworth and many others.

Dunn tackles the big landmarks of memoir territory (truth, ethics, time, form) with philosophical depth and reflects thoughtfully on the transformative power of writing about the self, not just for the reader, but also for the writer.

As well as being discursive, “Into Being” contains practical exercises and guidance on writing memoir which would be useful for anyone starting out on a life writing project or even for more advanced writers who are blocked or struggling to find the right way to express something on the page.

I have read a dozen or so craft books over the last couple of years and I am particularly happy to read a British one. We don’t seem to publish as many here compared to the U.S., particularly with respect to nonfiction, and while there is some convergence of literary approach between the U.S. and the U.K., the landscape is different and it was good to read a homegrown perspective.

I would not be surprised to find “Into Being” becoming a staple of creative writing curricula, and I think it is essential reading for anyone taking memoir seriously.

Grateful to Manchester University Press for the ARC.

[Peter Monaghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got into Lily Dunn while taking a memoir writing class with her. She understands that all writing has a therapeutic element and that the process of remembering is fluid and subject to personal interpretation. I use this book as a reference for my work and also to have Dunn in my corner when things are going sideways.

[Gabriela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Dr.Lily Dunn through her Substack last year.

This book was such a revelation! I listened to the audiobook, but I feel I need a hard copy to go back to it and re-read it. A lot of useful advice for memoir writers, but also a new (for me!) perspective.

I loved the idea of a "writerly self", as well as the various structure ideas.

[Maleah Grover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable with good points and quotes.

[Tracey Curzon-Manners · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much I've re-reserved it from the library.