Your Story, Your Life: Memoir & Personal Essays

“By writing memoir and personal essays, we give form to our histories and make something of meaning and beauty that is uniquely ours,” says instructor Katharine Harer. “I love this genre because you can be yourself, complete with your idiosyncrasies, strong opinions, flashes of wisdom and crazy moments. You can write about that time you got locked inside a porta potty at the Roman Colosseum, or how you learned to make plum jam from your grandfather, or your first kiss in fourth grade.”

In this nine-week class, we’ll do generative writing exercises and optional homework assignments geared toward creating vivid scenes and characters, using fresh sensory details, and identifying our distinct voices, all of which are so important in making memoir and personal essays come alive. We’ll take inspiration from a variety of nonfiction writers—Ann Patchett, Ta-Nehisi Coates, David Sedaris and Maggie Nelson, among others—and practice giving and receiving encouraging, constructive feedback to develop and deepen our writing.

By the end of the nine weeks, you’ll take home the tools you’ll need to continue writing memoir and personal essays, as well as at least one completed short draft and seeds for the development of several more.