Memoir Plus: A Generative Workshop for Researched, Braided, and Hybrid Prose with Rebecca van Laer (Zoom)

Memoir always examines one person’s life and memories, but it can also open onto history, philosophy, and cultural issues. This six-week workshop will focus on strategies for incorporating research, criticism, and intertextual elements into autobiographical writing.

For the first three weeks, participants will discuss excerpts from books including Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings, Erica Berry’s Wolfish, and Jenn Shapland’s My Autobiography of Carson McCullers. (Students are welcome to read these books in full, but it is not necessary to participate in the workshop.) Each class will end with a generative exercise to help students develop first drafts of essays that braid experiential and contemplative writing. The final three weeks will be dedicated to workshopping student pieces in an exploratory, affirmative environment. Along the way, participants will gain tools and exercises for revising hybrid prose.

This is a 6-week course meeting on Zoom from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on…