Writing Memoir and Personal Essay: Turning True Life Stories into Art

Saturday, July 28, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
$100 

The paradox of writing personal narrative is this: Telling our stories is in our DNA and comes naturally, until we sit down to write them. In this class, we will look at how a wide variety of authors — from Anne Lamott to Ernest Hemingway — have approached the memoir, and how the best personal narrative works.

Through discussions of exemplary samples from this burgeoning and multi-faceted genre, and warming up with in-class writing exercises, we will turn on the circuits of memory, discover what we really want to write about, and get writing. “Life is tough and brimming with loss, and the most we can do about it is to glimpse ourselves clear now and then, and find out what we feel about familiar scenes and recurring faces this time around.” — Roger Angell

Kathryn Eastburn is the author of two published books of literary nonfiction, was co-founder and editor of The Colorado Springs Independent, and writes a personal column, The Middle Distance, each week for KRCC public radio. She teaches journalism and creative nonfiction writing at The Colorado College and is a faculty member of Denver's Lighthouse Writers Workshop.