Essayists vs. Memoirists: An AWP Field Guide
February 22, 2012 § 10 Comments
From the Tin House AWP Field Guide:
Memoirists: With very few exceptions, memoirists are women. They favor fleece outerwear and they often carry snacks. Memoirists usually travel in odd-numbered groups of other memoirists. They are very friendly when approached, but prove difficult to get rid of in social situations. It is recommended to observe them from afar.
Essayists: The essayist signals his difference from the memoirist by the appropriation of a blazer. This blazer can be seen on essayists of both sexes. Essayists are self-deprecating but thrive on preparation—if you need a ride somewhere, you should ask them. They probably have a car.
See you all next week!
The Brevity Blog 
Funny!
So memoirists are women, often lesbian, you want to avoid at all costs and essayists, male and female, are boy scouts. Yeah, no.
I feel rather exposed by the memoirist exposé. As if I forgot my fleece.
I always wondered why no one talked to me at AWP, even though I always had a purse full of Snickers bars and Skittles I would have been happy to share. From now on I’ll stretch the truth and claim to be a writer of autobiographical fiction.
I go with Kate’s response.
Great little guide. Can’t wait to see both memoirists and essayists at AWP next week.
I carry snacks!
I believe fleece and snacks leads one to the Outside Magazine freelancers. And clearly, this person has not checked out Mary Karr’s author photo.
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This is silly and just adds to the myth that memoirists are women and essayists are men, which is an arcane and annoying notion. It also prolongs the life of the idea that a writer is one or the other, but not both. Until a man writes something substantial with his penis or a women does the same with her vagina, I’m for erasing all these gendered falsities.