Family is often where our most enduring stories begin, and where the writing of those stories can feel most complicated. In this two-day intensive, participants will study the craft of memoir writing through the lens of family, exploring how to transform lived experience into vivid, emotionally resonant work. Through selected readings, in-class writing exercises, discussions, and guided workshops, participants will generate new work while learning techniques for creating memorable scenes, writing complex characters drawn from real people, balancing specificity with reflection, and finding emotional truth on the page.
This course is co-taught with my uncle, Steven Petrow, and offers a rare opportunity to examine the ethics of memoir as both the writer and the family member being written about. Together, we'll consider questions including: How do we write honestly and ethically about real people? What is the nature of truth in memoir and what is our responsibility to uphold it? How do we handle multiple perspectives, multiple truths? How do we leave room for the inevitable complexity, uncertainty, and contradiction of family in our work?
Participants will leave with an early draft of one or more personal essays, a deeper understanding of memoir as a literary form, and practical tools for continuing to write about family after the course ends.
Family is often where our most enduring stories begin, and where the writing of those stories can feel most complicated. In this two-day intensive, participants will study the craft of memoir writing through the lens of family, exploring how to transform lived experience into vivid, emotionally resonant work. Through selected readings, in-class writing exercises, discussions, and guided workshops, participants will generate new work while learning techniques for creating memorable scenes, writing complex characters drawn from real people, balancing specificity with reflection, and finding emotional truth on the page.
This course is co-taught with my uncle, Steven Petrow, and offers a rare opportunity to examine the ethics of memoir as both the writer and the family member being written about. Together, we'll consider questions including: How do we write honestly and ethically about real people? What is the nature of truth in memoir and what is our responsibility to uphold it? How do we handle multiple perspectives, multiple truths? How do we leave room for the inevitable complexity, uncertainty, and contradiction of family in our work?
Participants will leave with an early draft of one or more personal essays, a deeper understanding of memoir as a literary form, and practical tools for continuing to write about family after the course ends.