Modern Memoirs

10/16/2025

In her blog post "A Look Back at Modern Memoirs Internships," company president Megan St. Marie writes,

"Interns have often been part of the inner workings at Modern Memoirs over our 30+ years. We don’t have an intern currently, but I am sure we will host them again in the future—perhaps even next semester—and in the meantime, I’ve been reflecting on how rewarding it’s been to engage with them in the past."

To read the full post, click here: https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/9/a-look-back-at-modern-memoirs-publishing-interns. And, if you know a student who might be interested in an internship at Modern Memoirs in 2026, please send them our way!

10/15/2025

Read company president Megan St. Marie’s review of a compelling, powerful, Franco American family history, Secrets of the Asylum: Norwich State Hospital and My Family by Julianne Mangin, in this journal. ❤️📚

We are delighted to announce the publication of volume 7 of the open-access Franco-American literary journal Résonance. https://www.resonance-journal.org/

Our latest annual issue features an illuminating interview with writer/performer Susan Poulin that mixes humorous images with an in-depth discussion of the ideas and hard work that inform her much-admired creative output.


Thanks to our Interim Arts editor Jonathan Mayers, volume 7 showcases visual arts, displaying work by Shelbey Leco, Fabrice Poussin, and Amber Valette.

We invite you to explore compelling pieces of fiction, creative non-fiction, mixed genres, and poetry, as well as translations and book reviews by award-winning authors such as Darren C. Demaree, Samara Cole Doyon, Denis Ledoux, Claire Raymond, and Jeri Theriault.

Please help us spread the word about our unique journal.

We will open for submissions to volume 8 on November 1, 2025.

10/06/2025

Our latest client interview is here! Read Part II of "Reflections from Margaret Marcus," in which Marcus discusses her second book with Modern Memoirs, Suddenly Upside Down: Recollections from Pandemic Years 2020 and 2021. https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/10/reflections-from-margaret-marcus-part-2

Pictured here is the cover design that Book Designer Nicole Miller created. She used art from a mug that Marcus's grandson made to create the vibrant, eye-catching design.

09/29/2025

Our September 2025 newsletter is here! https://conta.cc/482hK7F Please read and share "What Is Your Calling?" for news and inspiration from Modern Memoirs, Inc. This month, company president Megan St. Marie writes about her recent visit to California, where she spoke about her own books and about , , , and at a repeat client's retirement community in Palo Alto. Megan is pictured here with some of the people she was fortunate to meet during her trip. Reach out today if you would like to bring online or in-person programs from Modern Memoirs to your site. (newsletter link in bio)

09/24/2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/opinion/ai-outsource-writing-memoir.html

When we let computers write our stories, we lose something essential.

09/16/2025

In her latest blog post, Genealogist Liz Sonnenberg shares the following anecdote from her work with a client: "While doing his own family-history research, a client of ours logged onto and found the 1900 U.S. census record for his great-grandfather. He contacted me, puzzled over how the census listed his forebear’s occupation. 'It says he was a "capitalist bender," whatever that is!' he told me."

Read the full post at the link below to find out how Liz used original records (rather than derivative records) to solve the mystery of the "capitalist bender."

https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/9/genealogy-errors-are-your-ancestry-records-accurate

09/12/2025

President Megan St. Marie's reflection on Viktor E. Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning was included in this blog post on the site Sharing My Favorites.

cc: Featured

"What's one inspirational memoir that helped you find meaning or purpose during a challenging time? How did the author's journey resonate with your own search

08/28/2025

Our August newsletter features a quotation from Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl's powerful book, Man's Search for Meaning, first published in 1947. Click on this link https://conta.cc/4lTNLSG to read our company president's recommendation of Frankl's work, "Books as 'Soul Teachers' and Mentor Texts," and to find other news and inspiration from our staff and clients.

08/18/2025

For over 30 years, we at Modern Memoirs, Inc. have helped people privately publish their memoirs and family histories in beautiful, heirloom-quality books. Our writers have different motivations, with gratitude and a wish to honor their ancestors high on the list. That’s why our staff includes a professional genealogist, who documents and preserves our clients’ family histories to add to their own life stories. ❤️📚

A new generation of wealthy retirees is commissioning their own memoirs. They’re not trying to reach the bestseller list. Many of them just want the kids to know how hard they had it. 🔗: https://on.wsj.com/45EJcpi

Rudi Pauly, 92, paid $12,000 for a 185-page book about her life and family history from LifeBook Memoirs. The book, “From Menzingen to Lake Chelan,” starts off with her German immigrant grandparents living in a sod dugout on a Nebraska farm at the end of the 19th century. Five of the couple’s 14 children died, including two in a lightning strike.

The ghostwritten memoirs can run hundreds of pages and cost up to $100,000. An entire ecosystem of writers and high-end self-publishers has emerged to meet the demand.

Some reveal family secrets (Grandpa’s acid trip, anyone?). Most gloss over drama like divorces and alcohol issues and focus on uplifting narratives about their humble upbringings and the sweat and tears that enabled the comfortable lives of their intended audience: their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

08/14/2025

Today is last day in the office for our summer 2025 publishing intern, Cecelia Allentuck. We are pleased to share her new blog post, "How Poetry Slams Set Me Free as a Writer" https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/8/writing-for-a-judge-and-letting-go-how-competitive-poetry-slams-set-me-free-as-a-writer. Thank you for your terrific work, Cecelia! We wish you well as you head back to St. Andrews University this fall.

08/07/2025

"To others the Denlinger Cemetery may be just a jumbled mix of broken and still-standing gravestones hidden in a tangle of trees and weeds at the far intersection of four cornfields in rural Pennsylvania, but this place felt sacred to me. And as we stood there, I couldn’t help but think: I wouldn’t have known about any of this if someone hadn’t written it down." —Genealogist Liz Sonnenberg

Read the latest blog post from our staff genealogist, "Put Your Family History in Writing."https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/8/put-your-family-history-in-writing

cc: Gravestone Girls Mennonite Church USA

08/04/2025

"Each year since my dad has been gone, I reread the book on his birthday.”

These touching words are from our latest blog interview, in which a past client reflects on how he and his brothers worked with Modern Memoirs to surprise their father on his 90th birthday with a book about his career. https://www.modernmemoirs.com/mmblog/2025/8/reflections-from-jay-k-musoff