#109 The Critic's Daughter: Deploying Power Through Prose with Priscilla Gilman

Priscilla Gilman is the author of two memoirs, The Anti-Romantic Child (Harper, 2011) and The Critic’s Daughter (Norton, 2023) and a former professor of English literature at Yale University and Vassar College. The Critic's Daughter was a Washington Post Best Book of 2023, a New York Times Book Critics' Favorite Book of 2023, a Good Morning America Must-Read, one of the Los Angeles Times' book critic and Book Maven Bethanne Patrick's Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2023, one of the "18 Books Lilith magazine Loved in 2023," and 3rd on Bookreporter's Harvey Freedenburg's Favorite Books of 2023. Nick Hornby called The Critic’s Daughter “beautiful: honest, raw, careful, soulful, brave and incredibly readable," and Kiese Laymon declared: “The Critic’s Daughter is an exquisite and rare example of how the memoir needs as much inventiveness in scope and form as our most lush fiction and poetry…I’ve read few books in my life as skillfully executed and willfully conceived as The Critic’s Daughter.” Gilman’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.    In this episode: Priscilla’s search for her father as the genesis for 'The Critic's Daughter' Outlining the ways she lost her father throughout her life Her hypervigilance as a result of a childhood spent with famous and powerful parents  Crafting an elegy for a lost New York  “Streaks of love” and loss as throughlines of her book  Setting up the book as a series of acts straight from the theater Reflecting on the brilliance of her father's writing and power as a critic while writing her own story The challenges of navigating a personal and public persona Priscilla’s journey to processing grief and healing as she “brought her father back” and gained clarity on his life through research and writing his story   Connect with Priscilla Website: www.priscillagilman.com   Episode #52 Mentioned in this podcast A Conversation with Claire Dederer About Monsters https://estelleserasmus.com/a-conversation-with-claire-dederer-about-monsters/   Connect with Estelle   ​​FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode at  https://estelleserasmus.com/podcast. You also get a free pitching guide if you sign up for her newsletter.   Sign up for Estelle’s Personal Essay Class for Writer’s Digest  https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/writing-the-personal-essay-101-fundamentals   Sign up for Estelle’s NYU Classes https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/faculty/e/1068-estelle-erasmus.html   Get Her Book  Writing That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice, Become a Better Storyteller, Get Published: https://rb.gy/5ihwp0   Order Her Audiobook: https://shorturl.at/4uG2P   Sign up for her Substack https://estelleserasmus.substack.com (with craft advice and writing opportunities). Paid subscribers receive opportunities for pitch reviews, plus bonus clips from Freelance Writing Direct guests   Follow Estelle: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/EstelleSErasmus TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@EstelleSErasmus Twitter: https://twitter.com/EstelleSerasmus