Mary Karr
Poet and memoirist Mary Karr grew up in an industrial city in East Texas, an experience that forms the basis for her bestselling memoir, The Liars’ Club. She has also published four volumes of poetry, the most recent of which is Sinners Welcome, which illustrates her life as a “black-belt sinner” and her conversion to Catholicism. Karr is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry and the Whiting Award. Her most recent book, Lit, is a memoir that describes her early years as a writer, wife and mother—years that were marked with drug use, drinking, and the dissolution of her marriage. Karr lives in New York City, where she is the Peck Professor of English at Syracuse University.
Speaker Links
Listen to Mary Karr talk about Lit on NPR.
Read the New York Times review of Lit.
Read an interview with Karr about Lit.
Read David Ian Miller’s interview with Mary Karr in which she discusses her conversion to Catholicism.
Read an essay by Karr.
Watch Karr read from her collection of poetry Sinners Welcome.
Read Ellen Kanner’s interview with Karr.
Read Salon.com’s interview with Karr.
Read Ron Hogan’s interview with Karr.