Memory and Meaning in Two Voices: Writing A Mother-Daughter Memoir

By Riley Pickett and Harriet Riley

Riley Pickett

Riley, daughter: My mother and I are writing a memoir together. I am exactly half my mother’s age, having reached the age she was when she birthed me, 32. At this curious milestone, I find myself drawn to comparing my life at 32 to hers at that time—pregnant with her first child, caring for her sick mother, and married to a man who was physically and emotionally absent. My mother is a journalist. I am a poet. This memoir is what emerges when ...