This week, we welcome author Kara Kavensky and literary agent Katharine Sands to discuss the journey of writing and publishing memoirs. Kara, a corporate communication strategist and author, shares her experience writing a memoir about a World War II veteran’s quest for lost love, which deeply intertwined with her own life transformation. Katherine, as Kara’s literary agent, offers insights into the world of memoir publishing, emphasizing the importance of community, platform, and unique storytelling. The episode explores the challenges and strategies for aspiring memoir writers and the therapeutic power of writing.

00:00 Introduction to the Hungry Authors Podcast

00:37 Meet Kara Kavensky and Katharine Sands

00:50 Kara’s Memoir Journey Begins

02:11 The Life-Changing Interview with Bob

06:27 Kara’s Personal Transformation

11:57 The Role of an Agent in Memoir Publishing

14:12 The Importance of Platform in Memoir Writing

19:03 Kara’s Writing Experience and Advice

24:30 Discussing the Editing Process

25:05 Navigating Feedback and Criticism

27:25 Manuscript Iterations and Finalizing the Story

29:39 Challenges of Writing a Memoir

33:01 Advice for Aspiring Memoir Writers

36:15 The Importance of a Unique Perspective

40:50 Balancing Personal Stories with Marketability

44:05 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

A born storyteller, Kara loves sharing inspiring stories. She has written thousands of personal interest stories, op-eds, and features on fascinating people to local and national magazines and news outlets.

In addition to storytelling and public relations, her remain relevant consulting business applies storytelling concepts to humanize businesses, which facilitates amazing results.

Kara’s debut memoir, TELL ME ABOUT JOY, is a result of one of her interviews (Fall 2026). Listen to podcast episodes of Finding Joy with Kara and her newest podcast series, Record Scratch with Kara!

Katharine Sands is a literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. She has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books. She is the agent provocateur of Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye, a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents. Actively building her client list, she likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir and femoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.

Learn more about Katharine and send her a pitch on ManuscriptWishlist.com!