Teaching Memoir at Yale

Later this month I’ll be on the faculty of the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG) 34th annual summer conference beginning June 24 on the campus of Yale University: http://www.iwwg.org.

The Guild’s goal is, “personal and professional empowerment of women through writing,” and it draws women from all over the world to this week-long conference. More than 40 workshops are offered each day: memoir, fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, publishing, along with manuscript critique sessions and workshops on creativity and personal transformation—all taught by some of the finest writers, teachers, publishing professionals and transformation experts working today.

I’ve been planning on my class for days now. Having a grand time getting back into the joy of ideas and building a syllabus that flows and enlightens, or at least has the potential to do that.

One of the things we’ll do in this upcoming class is look at the way the stories we inherit from our families and communities shape the memoir we write. We all have these legends that come down to us and shape our perceptions. We just have to focus on them to see how they have driven our choices and shaped our realities. Out of all that rises truly evocative memoir.

Hope to see you at the Conference!