Celebrity memoir: from ghostwriting to gender politics, hardcover/hannah yelin

In this timely analysis of the economics of access that surround contemporary female celebrity, Hannah Yelin reveals a culture that requires women to be constantly baring all in physical exposure and psychic confessions.

As famous women tell their story, in their own words, constellations of ghostwriters, intermediaries and market forces undermine assertions of authorship and access to the real woman behind the public image.

Yelins account of the presence of the ghostwriter offers a fascinating microcosm of the wider celebrity machine, with insights pertinent to all celebrity mediation.

Yelin surveys life-writing genres including fiction, photo-diary, comic-strip, and art anthology, as well as more traditional autobiographical forms; covering a wide range of media platforms and celebrity contexts including reality TV, YouTube, pop stardom, and porn/glamour modelling.

Despite this diversity, Yelin reveals seemingly inescapable conventions, as well as spaces for resistance.

Celebrity Memoir: from Ghostwriting to Gender Politics offers new insights on the curtailment of womens voices, with ramifications for literary studies of memoir, feminist media studies, celebrity studies, and work on the politics of production in the creative industries.

About author(s): Hannah Yelin is Senior Lecturer in Media and Culture at Oxford Brookes University, UK.

She is currently co-authoring a book about girls, leadership and celebrity.

Following a 12-year career in the media, Hannah runs Celebrity Culture Club, hosting discussions between academics and media industry figures.

She also writes about celebrity for The Independent .