Karr made her debut as a songwriter with the release of Kin: Songs by Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell. In 2015 Syracuse University awarded Karr an honorary doctorate in humane letters. Tropic of Squalor is her latest book of poems that “are thrilling in their vitality, dazzle, nerve, longing, and camouflaged depth.” ( Kirkus).

In the New York Times ranking of The Liars’ Club as one of “The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years” Dwight Garner called it “one of the best books ever written about growing up in America.” The Art of Memoir, is Karr’s master class on the fastest-growing literary genre.It debuted at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller List and was blanketed in stellar reviews, and her book for graduates based on her acclaimed 2015 Syracuse “Gift of Fear” commencement speech, Now Go Out There (and Get Curious), has become a perennial graduation gift book. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed, best-selling memoirs The Liars’ Club, Cherry, and Lit. is an award-winning poet and New York Times best-selling memoirist, and the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of Literature at Syracuse University. “Mary Karr captivates and befriends her audience with her understated intelligence, her adroit use of language, and her generous, self-deprecating good humor.” - Festival of Faith and Writing Lecture our audience is still talking about her memorable performance.” -Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures She brings firepower to the podium with great style and a contagious Texas twang.

“Karr is a national treasure.” -George Saunders Award-Winning, Bestselling Memoirist & Poet

The Liars' Club by Mary Karr