Ryan Van Meter

Ryan Van Meter's essay collection If You Knew Then What I Know Now is now available from Sarabande Books. His essays have been published in The Gettysburg Review, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, Arts & Letters and Fourth Genre, among others, and selected for anthologies including Best American Essays 2009 and Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction. He currently teaches creative writing at The University of San Francisco. For additional information or questions, email [email protected]. var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-15094973-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

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This panel discusses how memoir can be a form of survival for queer writers and readers. How does the book act as a dwelling place for LGBTQ writers who are rejected from their families and communities? How does memoir allow for liberatory performances of gender and sexuality? How can queer writers rewrite history in crucial ways? Many of the writers on this panel are also fiction writers or poets: How are the stakes different when it comes to writing memoir about sexuality and gender?

Or check out my AWP panel with Julie Marie Wade, Barrie Jean Borich,and Paul Lisicky — moderated by Julia Koets:

Diamond Salon 6&7, JW Marriott LA, 3rd Floor Friday, April 1, 2016 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm

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The Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, founded in the late 1970s, is the first (and only) freestanding nonfiction writing program in the country. The new anthology I'll Tell You Mine: Thirty Years of Essays from the Iowa Nonfiction Program, published by the University of Chicago Press, features 18 works from NWP alumni, all begun during the writers' time in graduate school. Five authors whose work appears in the book read their essays and share stories about the process of writing the pieces.

Attending AWP this week? Check out my panel with other Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program alumni, including George Yatchisin, Marilyn Abildskov, and Tom Montgomery Fate — moderated by Hope Edelman:

Room 406 AB, LA Convention Center, Meeting Room Level Saturday, April 2, 2016 10:30 am to 11:45 am

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To Bear, to Carry: Notes on "Faggot"

This essay originally appeared in If You Knew Then What I Know Now, available from Sarabrande Books.

My essay, "To Bear, To Carry: Notes on 'Faggot'" is featured in the latest issue of Hot Metal Bridge. 

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Ryan Van Meter Reading at Columbia College Chicago

Tuesday, April 21 at 5:30pm. A nonfiction reading by visiting author Ryan Van Meter, hosted by the Department of Creative Writing's Creative Nonfiction program. This event is free and open to the public, and books will be sold at the event.

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Here's a nice story about the Introduction to Writing Oral History class I created and taught last fall. In it, we discussed the challenges and responsibilities inherent in telling the true stories of other people. For the centerpiece project of the class, my students collected the life histories of older adult clients of Meals On Wheels San Francisco, using recording equipment from StoryCorps.

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Ana Maria Spagna on Teaching Ryan Van Meter

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The Memory Collective

I was very excited to participate in this curious project with so many writers that I admire. Behold, the Memory Collective.

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AWP 2014 What Was Is: The Use of Present Tense in Creative Nonfiction

A guest blog from Erica Trabold 

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Attending the AWP Conference this year? I'll be joining Kate Hopper, Hope Edelman, Bonnie Rough and Marybeth Holleman to "consider what happens when we write about past events in the present tense. When does present tense provide needed immediacy, and when does it limit an author’s ability to write to the true story? We will explore the benefits, challenges, and drawbacks of using present tense as we craft our lives on the page, and we will discuss how tense affects other craft issues, such as voice, reflection, and structure."

Washington State Convention Center & Sheraton Seattle Hotel Room 202, Western New England MFA Annex, Level 2 Thursday, February 27, 2014 9:00 am to 10:15 am

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All in all, it was a really weird summer.

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Celebrated Reading From The University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program

I'm very honored to be included among these fine writers/former classmates. Thank you, Amy Butcher!

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A beautifully written (and illustrated) review of If You Knew Then up today at The Philadelphia Review of Books.

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I was very honored to participate in this project, and am quite proud to be included among these gentlemen.