About the journal

Run to the Roundhouse, Nellie is an online, seasonal journal that focuses on memoir writers and the many facets of the genre: the writing of it; what is a memoir—or isn’t; and who are the people behind the author headshot. We would like to make available to our readers memoirs that we feel have literary value and that may not have made the biggest splash in the publishing world—but we found them difficult to put down. They left us with that wistful Holden Caulfield reaction: we wanted to pick up the phone and talk to the author. Other memoirs may be featured because they are quirky, or may be difficult to define in a tasty sound bite; we like books that take some chewing on. Each issue features interviews with four memoir writers.

We also have an ongoing section, Readers’ House, our invitation to readers to respond to a topic with a short memoir piece. The topic changes with each issue, and we select and publish submissions on a rolling basis until the next issue.

Each issue has a column called Writing a Memoir, which is a free-ranging essay written by someone who has given thought to the issues, both the joys and the sticky parts, of writing memoir, whether as the author of a book or a blog—or simply as an observer of the genre. We are entertaining submissions from writers who have something to say about memoir.

Readers are invited to comment on the interviews or books of the featured writers, and also to voice their reactions to our essay and the short memoir pieces—we will monitor but not edit those responses.

Nellie’s Notes is a regular feature, a place for me and contributing editors to share information, comment on the content of the journal and the writers we work with, and alert our readers to coming attractions.

You are invited to contact us. We would like to receive proposals from people who wish to serve as contributing editors. Our submissions page has all the necessary information.