About Us

Kitty Axelson-Berry
I founded MODERN MEMOIRS in 1994, following 20 years of creative work in award-winning journalism, publishing, editing, and public radio commentary. It was when I realized that I owed it to my own mother to respectfully listen to and pass along her life story that I started the company. Since then, Modern Memoirs has privately published memoirs, family histories, and other books for a wide variety of clients in the U.S. and elsewhere. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve them and their families in such a profound way.

In order to have a community of professionals to pool knowledge, especially about new technologies, theories, and practices, I founded the Association of Personal Historians, an international trade association that now has hundreds of active members. In 2002, with two former clients I co-founded The American Tribute Center, which provided personal Tribute Books to a handful of bereaved families of 9/11, modeled on Modern Memoirs’ Tribute Books. We closed it down several years ago.

I was born and raised in West Hempstead, New York. Note: Over the course of two marriages and three children, my name went from Cathy Marsha Lebow to Kitty Axelson-Berry. After receiving my B.A. in 1971 from Smith College, majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Music, I lived in an owner-built home at the end of a long driveway at the top of a steep hill in a rural town, Leverett, Massachusetts. Thirty-seven years later, as I approached the big 6-0, I moved to nearby Amherst, which offers thrilling amenities like garbage pick-up and a short commute. It was my clients’ Holocaust experiences that informed that move, I believe, and made me realize how resilient the human spirit can be. In fact, we learn a great deal from each and every one of our clients.

In this photo, I am with my youngest grandchild, Xander, at the 2009 anniversary celebration of the Nipponzan Myohoji Peace Pagoda in Leverett. 

kitty@modernmemoirs.com
MODERN MEMOIRS, INC.
34 Main Street #9
Amherst, MA 01002-2367
413-253-1837

Alison de Groot
Associate Publisher Ali de Groot first encountered Modern Memoirs through a writing workshop in 1998 and since then has been on the staff as writer, editor, and production manager. She holds a B.A. in anthropology from Tufts University and a master’s in teaching ESL. Prior to her work in publishing, she taught writing at the university level for 15 years in the U.S. and Europe, working closely with adults from a wide variety of nationalities and backgrounds.

In 1999, Ms. de Groot published Learning to Speak, a memoir about her mother. More recently, she wrote a Tribute Book© for the family of a 9/11 victim; the book was privately published in 2004 by the American Tribute Center©.

Ali de Groot finds working with memoirs to be fulfilling, demanding, and inspiring. Every month she hosts First Person! First Night!, a public reading event for memoir writers, held at the offices of Modern Memoirs. She continues her lifelong hobbies of writing, traveling with her family, and dancing (modern and flamenco) as much as possible.

ali@modernmemoirs.com
MODERN MEMOIRS, INC.
34 Main Street #9
Amherst, MA 01002-2367
413-253-1837