"I don’t really read Stephen King—I just can’t read scary things because it stays with me too long—but I truly liked his memoir of the craft of writing. It’s the most accurate depiction of what writing is like and it’s not necessarily glamorous the way we’ve seen it on “Sex and the City,” where you sit down and bang out an article in 30 minutes. He’s good at mining his personal life and letting that inspire his creativity. That’s the ideal way to go about writing, to be informed by your life and use it in a way that can entertain other people."

"I have had Patti Smith's 'Just Kids' on my bedside forever. [Vogue US] She describes a recent turning point when she read Just Kids, Patti Smith’s 2010 memoir, in which she writes of discovering that her true calling lay in “three chords merged with the power of the word.” Smith’s willingness to embrace the highs and lows of a creative life touched something in Emma. “I want to live like Patti. I want to write like Patti,” she says. “The book was so honest and brave. I loved the way she sees the world. I really felt that life was more beautiful after I read it, and I felt more hopeful."

"Roxane Gay describes her book Hunger as a ‘memoir about my body’. It traverses many of the issues surrounding our human bodies, the sexual experiences we have, our relationship with food, how we feel about our own bodies and the difference gender has to play on a body…While parts of the book are difficult to read, it highlights the very real damage done by sexual violence and puts you in the mind and body of someone that has to move through the world in a different way. A small insight or perspective I feel grateful for now having and understanding a little bit better."