Today’s guest has spent her life turning pain into prose — and teaching others to do the same. I am really proud of this episode…I loved chatting with Erika, and I feel honored and inspired to keep championing survivor’s voices. Erika’s voice is especially rich, out loud and on the page.

Erika Schickel is a memoirist, teacher, and storyteller whose second book, The Big Hurt, published in 2021 is a fearless memoir tracing two passionate, predatory, life-altering love affairs set twenty-five years apart. Erika grew up as the daughter of writers in fashionable New York of the 1970s, part of what she describes as a culture “that offers young women to men in power as sort of prizes for their accomplishments and ignores the humanity of the girls being offered.”

In today’s conversation, we dig into generational wounds, the revolutionary power of using your voice in writing, and what it means to hold your family’s story in your hands — and then lose it, as Erika feels she did when the Eaton Fire destroyed her home in January 2025. Be sure to check out Erika’s fantastic Substack page, “Girl of the Burning West,” where she’s processing her next book by the same name. Her writing voice is just as cool and intelligent as her speaking voice. Be sure to check out her writing memoir workshops too. She gives a lot of her teaching secrets on this episode. So writers and readers and SA survivors, this one’s for you!

If you want to watch, rather than just listen, here’s the video interview:

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This is a conversation about loss, accountability, legacy, and the irreplaceable value of telling your own story — in your own voice. And bearing witness to the women brave enough to tell theirs when they are ready.

Portrait of Therese Bernard by Renoir

Erika’s Website

Allison’s Website

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