Brooke Warner is a force to be reckoned with. She is a publisher, podcaster, teacher and author. Above all, she is an advocate and champion for writers particularly women. Warner has carved out space for writers to bring their truths to the page, even when those truths risk rejection, judgment or silence.
Warner brings her expertise to the Tahoe Literary Festival on Oct. 11 where she will lead three sessions that embody her passions and commitments.
She’ll guide writers through “The Magic of Memoir: The Courage to Write Fearlessly,” a workshop on stepping into truth with boldness. She’ll participate on the publishing panel “Pathways to Publishing: Navigating the Literary Landscape,” offering insider knowledge on the many ways to bring a book into the world. And she’ll moderate “Women, Words, and Wisdom,” a conversation with debut Tahoe authors Sue Norman, Liz Tucker, Bridey Thelen-Heidel and Priya Hutner.
Each session reflects the themes she has championed her entire career: truth-telling, accessibility and amplifying women’s voices. Tickets to the festival are on sale now at www.TahoeLitFest.com.
Warner has been in the publishing industry for decades. She began her career at Seal Press, a women’s publishing house where she found her passion.
“I was in my late 20s, working with women, and I saw the importance of their stories, and also the double standards, the unique criticism reserved for women writers,” explains Warner.
Her journey in the publishing world ignited her convictions that continue to shape her work today: voices matter and publishing them is an act of both advocacy and necessity. As the founder of She Writes Press, the co-host of the popular podcast “Memoir Nation” with Grant Faulkner, teacher of memoir workshops, a speaker book events and conferences throughout the country, and an author in her own right, she finds a way to balance it all.
“My life would probably look chaotic to someone else, but the cycles of publishing suit me. I like moving between things, editing for a few hours, teaching, working on my own writing. It’s a dance, and it works for me,” says Warner.
I attended one of Warner and Faulkner’s workshop, “Becoming an Authorpreneur,” where she advised writers who were building their career to always say yes. I was intrigued. When I asked her about balancing her yes’s she admitted she is equally practiced at boundaries.
Warner also writes a weekly Substack. In moments of controversy, Warner is not afraid to step forward as an advocate for authors. She believes in memoir.
“Memoir is therapy on the page,” she says. “It’s people processing their lives, their motivations, their passions, their struggles. When someone like Elizabeth Gilbert gets silenced, it sends a message that others should hold back, too. And that steals permission. People’s truth matters.”
Her defense of memoir is not abstract. She has worked with writers whose books recount abuse, addiction, religious exile and survival.
“When someone reads a memoir and realizes, ‘This person got through it. This person survived,’ that can save lives. That’s why these books matter,” says Warner.
Warner’s advocacy extends beyond genre to the wider publishing landscape, where barriers especially for women, older writers and writers of color remain daunting.
“It’s important to create spaces where writers aren’t shut out for who they are, but welcomed for what they have to say,” Warner points out.
Her vision for the future is simple: “I want She Writes to remain a home for women writers for years to come. Steadiness and authenticity define Warner’s ethos. Everything I do comes back to two core values: women’s voices and opening doors in publishing. Those haven’t wavered. They guide every decision.”
Even as she continues to guide other writers, she is working on her memoir.
“It’s the book that needs to be written,” she admits, though life’s demands often interrupt her personal writing.
When asked what she most wants writers to know, Warner doesn’t hesitate: “There’s not only one right way to get your work into the world. Too many of us silence ourselves, thinking someone else has said it better, or it’s too late, or we don’t belong. But your voice is part of the conversation. If you have something to say, say it.”
In Warner’s world, stories are lifelines, memoir is a defiant act of truth-telling and women’s voices deserve not just to be heard, but to be celebrated.
