1. In I Am J, Cris Beam imagines the tumultuous life of a transgendered youth. Although it’s a work of fiction, she explains in The Guardian that it was personal experience, not politics, that motivated her to write it. “I think a lot of authors feel like this – drawn to write out of both love and a need to resolve something confusing, painful or just out of reach.” Cris Beam wrote Mother, Stranger, a memoir about her own troubled childhood, for The Atavist last year.

    In I Am J, Cris Beam imagines the tumultuous life of a transgendered youth. Although it’s a work of fiction, she explains in The Guardian that it was personal experience, not politics, that motivated her to write it.

    “I think a lot of authors feel like this – drawn to write out of both love and a need to resolve something confusing, painful or just out of reach.”

    Cris Beam wrote Mother, Stranger, a memoir about her own troubled childhood, for The Atavist last year.

  2.

    Ron Hogan talks to Cris Beam about publishing her memoir, Mother, Stranger. 

  3. redvelvetteacake:

    Todd Hido - houses at night

    A haunting Todd Hido photograph also graces the cover of our story Mother, Stranger. 

  4. Listen to Cris Beam read from 'Mother, Stranger' →

  6. Watch a trailer for our new story Mother, Stranger by Cris Beam. 

  7. Last night, The Atavist convened an all-star panel—featuring David Dobbs, Cris Beam, and Clive Thompson—to discuss what future, if any, memoir has in the digital age. Look at the photos here. 

    Last night, The Atavist convened an all-star panel—featuring David Dobbs, Cris Beam, and Clive Thompson—to discuss what future, if any, memoir has in the digital age. Look at the photos here. 

  8. RSVP for our free Valentine’s Day event!

    Two of our bestselling authors will discuss their memoirs about their mothers, and the role of memoir writing in the digital age. 

    Drinks and dessert will be served.

    6:30 p.m. at Brooklyn’s Melville House. RSVP here. 

  9. Sadie Magazine reviews Cris Beam’s Mother, Stranger:

    “She writes so deeply, exposing her rawest of emotions, that goose bumps cover your arms before you’ve had time to fully take in what she’s saying.”