CLHUMCW009 - Memoir Writing Workshop
What stories do you carry inside that are seeking to make themselves known? What family histories, legacies and ancestries have shaped you? Join this workshop to develop your skills at researching and writing memoir. Drawing inspiration from a diverse range of published writers and stories, hone your craft as a memoirist. Learn strategies for researching your family and sensitively navigating the dynamics and ethics of writing about others. Receive feedback on your work from the instructor and, if you wish, from your peers. Participants will leave the workshop with a series of initial stories and a plan for expanding these sketches with further research, development and writing. Whether you want to write a full book or compile recollections and reflections for your children, grandchildren and other loved ones, this workshop will help you express the stories that make you uniquely you.
Note: This course is suitable for beginning and intermediate writers.
Course Details
Deborah Barrett, Ph.D., is a professor in the practice of writing and communication at Rice University, where she teaches graduate courses in creative writing and literature. She was awarded the John Freeman Faculty Teaching Award in 2019 in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program, which she joined as faculty in 2009. She has served as the director of MBA communication at the Jones Graduate School of Business and director of the Program for Communication Excellence for Rice undergraduates. Dr. Barrett holds a Ph.D. in English from Rice and has published scholarly articles on literature, communication and leadership and a textbook, “Leadership Communication” (McGraw-Hill). She has participated in several major writing conferences, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences for creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry. She has also published creative nonfiction essays as Deborah Burch-Lavis and a chapbook of poetry, “The Desert Speaks to the Dreamer.”
Online--Synchronous
This course will be delivered in a synchronous format online. Participants will receive login instructions to the course page which will provide access to the virtual classroom link and other resources. All online classes are held at Central Standard Time.
- Introducing the craft of memoir writing
- Reading memoir excerpts critically for inspiration and best practices
- Conducting interviews and researching family history
- Navigating the emotional impact of excavating and sharing your stories
- Balancing the dynamics and ethics of writing about family, friends and acquaintances
- Generating ideas and maintaining momentum for your personal stories and memoir
This course is suitable for beginning and intermediate writers.