Do you feel you have a story inside you, but you’re a little leery of getting thrown in the deep end? Always been interested in memoir, but don’t quite know where to start? In this class, you’ll gently wade into the vast sea of memories and experiences you’ve been carrying around for your whole life.
"Using accessible writing prompts, inviting craft exercises, and lots of encouragement, we’ll learn some universal building blocks in memoir writing and settle in to enjoy each other's stories," says instructor Alison Luterman. "In addition to talking about basic story elements such as word choice, character development, and voice, we’ll create a safe, supportive writing community that offers clear-eyed and open-hearted guidance. In between class meetings, there will be light homework assignments so that we can all stay on track and motivated in our memoir writing."
About The Writing Salon's In-Person Classes
Before your class meets, you'll receive an email from The Writing Salon with more information about the class. If you have any questions about in-person learning, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@writingsalons.com.
Alison Luterman is the author of four books of poetry, including In the Time of Great Fires and Desire Zoo, and an e-book of personal essays, Feral City. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Sun, Rattle, The Atlanta Review, Catamaran, and many other journals and anthologies. She also writes song lyrics, plays, and is interested in hybrid forms. She has been teaching at the Writing Salon for over twenty years, and has also taught through Poets in the Schools, at New College, at Esalen and Omega Institutes and at workshops and conferences around the country. To learn more, you can visit www.alisonluterman.net.
- Thursday, January 23, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- Thursday, January 30, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- Thursday, February 06, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- Thursday, February 13, 2:00pm-4:00pm
- Thursday, February 20, 2:00pm-4:00pm
Alison is exactly what I was looking for in a writing teacher. She made the classroom environment very “safe” for us as writers and readers. She gave us very solid, specific, yet kind, feedback. She encouraged everyone to participate, by being present and interested when others were talking.”
Alison’s teaching style is a delight. She is informal and warm. She guides the group very well and presents a variety of opportunities for expression that certainly helped me grow. I am also touched by the intimacy that the group developed over time…thanks to Alison’s gentle, but firm guidance.
I felt safe and relaxed and open to sharing because the teaching style was non competitive and non judgmental. I feel the work that I did in class validated my confidence to continue working on my own memoir project. I got new writing tools to play with too.