Spotlight On 'Playful Way' Author & Artist Roberta Allen

Roberta Allen is an author, artist, teacher and coach, who has helped thousands of people. Her books include The Playful Way to Knowing Yourself: A Creative Workbook to Inspire Self-Discovery, and The Playful Way to Serious Writing, both published by Houghton Mifflin.

Download FREE Exercises from The Playful Way to Knowing Yourself (PDF)

She is also the author of two story collections, praised by The New York Times Book Review, a novel and a novella-in-stories, praised by the Village Voice, a travel memoir and a writing guide, both selections of the Quality Paperback Book Club. She is on the faculty of New School University, has taught in the writing program at Columbia University, and in many private workshops. She is also a visual artist who has exhibited worldwide, with work in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Eugenia Louis. Learn more about Roberta at www.robertaallen.com.

Interview with Roberta Allen (2010)

By Kristi Tencarre

Q. You have just finished a memoir titled Dirty Girl. What inspired you to write this memoir?

A. Actually, it wasn't my idea. My agent at Georges Borchardt, Inc. called me one day and said, "The only writer I know with a family as bizarre as Auguston Burroughs in Running With Scissors is yours! You really should write a memoir." At the time I was between books so I thought I'd give it a try before I had any idea how hard it is to write a memoir. I didn't know then that you have to recreate your whole (in my case) horrible childhood in order to write about it. But once I started, I became obsessed. I wanted to get to the bottom of it. More »