An Interview with Author Sue William Silverman
- Donna Carbone
- 13 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Episode 67
Sue William Silverman's collection of flash essays: Selected Misdemeanors
Sue William Silverman is the award-winning author of five books of creative nonfiction, including her latest, Selected Misdemeanors which has been longlisted for the 2026 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, two craft books on writing, and three poetry collections. Her memoir Love Sick: One Woman's Journey through Sexual Addiction was also made into a Lifetime TV Original Movie. As a professional speaker and writer, Sue has appeared on many nationally syndicated radio and TV programs including The View and Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN; She's the co-chair of the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
SHOW NOTES:
Selected Misdemeanors
The Butterfly Effect
Writing Process
Teaching writing (craft books & MFA Program, Vermont College of Fine Arts)
Writing poetry
Advice for Writers
Next Steps
Rapid Fire Questions
Overview of Selected Misdemeanors: Can you give us an overview of “Selected Misdemeanors”? What sparked the idea for this collection, and how does it differ from your previous works?
The essays in this collection range. How did you decide on the structure and format for these pieces?
You explore pivotal moments in your life throughout the essays. Can you share a specific essay that was the most difficult to write or the easiest?
What kind of reactions have you received from readers regarding the themes and honesty in “Selected Misdemeanors”?
Could you share your writing process?
Who are some of the writers or influences that shaped your approach to writing?
How has your experience teaching in the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts influenced your own writing and approach to memoir?
How connected is your poetry to your prose? How are they different to write?
What is the most significant lesson you learned while writing these essays, both personally and as a writer?
What have you learned the hard way in the realms of writing, publishing, or marketing your work?
What advice would you give to fellow writers looking to explore personal narratives in a way that resonates with readers, as you have in this collection?
What are you currently working on?
Rapid Fire Questions:
Coffee or tea, or something else while writing?
Who inspired you to become an author?
What’s your go-to snack during writing sessions?
Name a book that changed your perspective.
What’s your favorite distraction from writing?
Do you prefer writing in silence or with music?
What's your dream vacation spot for inspiration?
Sue’s Book Recommendations:
anything by novelist Jean Rhys
The Love by Marguerite Duras
SOURCES & LINKS
Sue’s Books
The essays in Selected Misdemeanors range from short to flash to micro length, focusing on pivotal, often fleeting moments that define the course of a life.
This book is an amalgam of craft advice coupled with personal essays--essays I wrote specifically to illustrate the craft concerns of each chapter. Additionally, I share my urgency over the importance of writing personal narrative.
This is a collection of thematically linked essays whereby the narrator explores the taboo subject of death. While several pieces use gallows humor as a way to deflect, the narrator also directly confronts her fears of the ultimate unknown.
This memoir-in-essays describes Sue's search for authentic self-identity – a search complicated by her conflicted feelings toward Judaism and her various efforts to “pass” as Christian. At the heart of this journey are three separate encounters with 1960s pop-music icon turned Christian activist, Pat Boone, who plays a pivotal role in Sue's desire to belong to the dominant culture.
"A deeply personal memoir of a woman's addiction to and recovery from the high of dangerous encounters. This utterly candid account is the only memoir by a woman to examine sexual addiction. It is a powerful, often lyrical book with strong resonance for other addictions, whether to food, drugs, alcohol, or work--for anyone whose only satisfaction is now."
Winner of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award Series in Creative Nonfiction.
This is a guidebook about how to craft compelling art out of personal experience. "Fearless Confessions" is for beginning and experienced writers alike, who want to write their own life stories. Please click the title to see the Table of Contents.
Poetry Collection~~ "From the opening lines, it's clear The Girl at the center of these poems is damaged—which is another way to say she's a survivor...."
This short article, first published in "The Writer's Chronicle," is now available here, in its entirety.
Authors Talking Bookish https://www.authorstalkingbookish.com
Hope Gibbs, author of Where the Grass Grows Blue https://www.authorhopegibbs.com/
Donna Norman-Carbone, author of All That is Sacred & Of Lies and Honey https://www.donnanormancarbone.com
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