Selected Memories: Five Years of Hippocampus Magazine

by Donna Talarico (Editor)

From coming of age tales to trials of online dating or overcoming fears... from the grittiness and hardship of this American life to celebratory life events... from small moments to major milestones...this collection provides a 33 slices of life.

Selected Memories: Five Years of Hippocampus Magazine is a celebration of where we've been and a testament to the power of telling true stories. Since we launched our journal in 2010, we ve published more than 600 pieces of creative nonfiction from more than 500 emerging and established writers. We're proud of our contributors, and we admire their bravery for sharing pieces of themselves. This collection is a representation of our first five years. It's filled with more than two dozen stories that moved us, made us laugh, made us cry, made us want to read them again.

Contributors:
Fred Amram
Stephanie Andersen
Michael Andreoni
Cathy A.E. Bell
John Yu Branscum
Amy Braziller
Dorothy Brooks
MT Cozzola
Dawn S. Davies
Jennifer Alise Drew
Andrea Fox
Bernard Grant
Jim Gray
Jane Hammons
Ben Jolivet
Mary Killian
Jessica Bryant Klagmann
Tyler Lacoma
Pamela Ramos Langley
Lisa Nikolidakis
Amber Peckham
Jeanine Pfeiffer
Kay Marie Porterfield
Trace Ramsey
Susan Rukeyser
Deborah Esther Schifter
Diedre Sinnott
Carol Smith
Suzanne Farrell Smith
James Stafford
Sean Finucane Toner
Allison K Williams

242 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2017

About the author

Donna Talarico is founder and publisher of Hippocampus Magazine -- and its annual conference (HippoCamp) and book division.

Now an independent writer and content marketing consultant, she previously enjoyed careers in higher education, radio, newspapers, and ecommerce. Donna's been published in a variety of publications, including higher education trade magazines and alumni magazines, and she also has work forthcoming or published in literary and mainstream publications including mental_floss, The Guardian, The LA Times, The Writer, The Los Angeles Review, and others.

She's working on a memoir called Door to Door.

Reviews

[Gayle Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected Memories presents a decent collection of interesting stories from a relatively wide perspective. There were a couple stories that stood out to me, but my favorite story of the collection was Object Lessons by Carol Smith. The story beautifully describes loss, change and memory through the vehicle of the psychological resonance of things.

[Lara Lillibridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite essay collections. Donna Talarico is a fine curator of excellent writing—I have read Hippocampus Magazine for years, and I couldn't wait to read this anthology.

One thing I loved in particular is the diversity of the writers. One of my favorites was Amy Braziller's essay, ""Post. Wait. Delete." I could totally relate to this funny narrative of lesbian online dating—even though I am heterosexual, I, too, am a veteran of the online dating world. Another great essay was "The Laundromat," written by Sandra Gail Lambert, which detailed the whole "you are such an inspiration" thing from the vantage of the person in the wheelchair who is just trying to do her laundry and doesn't particularly want to inspire anyone or be prayed over.

I love anthologies in general for those "Readers Digest" times, like waiting at a doctor's office—you have nothing to do, but not enough time to delve into a novel or longer work. Each piece was a satisfying stand alone piece, but taken together, a good cross section of America.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag of memoir, personal essay, and a couple veering towards essaying. Most of these pieces do a nice job of placing the reader in the moment while giving vivid glimpses into another’s life. The editors seem to value a wide range of voices and subject matter. There’s some risk involved with this. Some of the pieces are so self contained they lack a larger resonance, and a couple even feel message driven (I wasn’t a fan). But others in this collection, like “Silence, Stillness” by Lisa Nikolidakis, “Right-Sized Rats” by Dierdre Sinnott, “Second Breakfast” by Kay Marie Porterfirld, and “Birayshul” by Dawn S. Davies, all work towards a larger resonance and show the way that life can fold in on itself.