Nonfiction

“Writing memoir is like being a miner, shining a light into the nooks and crannies of our lives,” says instructor Katharine Harer. “We think we know what we'll find, but we're often surprised by the depth and complexity we uncover... more

In this 5-week course we’ll start with your own ideas, sourcing material for what will become a compelling, layered personal essay or short memoir piece... more

The focus of the workshop is to encourage and guide experienced writers in creating, revising, and potentially publishing short, stand-alone works of memoir... more

“What drives many of us to write is the simple human need to express ourselves,” says instructor David Jacobson. “There may be no better way to meet that need than by presenting a point of view ... more

“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... more

“Who would you communicate with if you could reach across time and space?” asks instructor Kerry Muir. “A child yet to be born, a beloved friend, a parent now gone? Our prose takes on a strikingly intimate quality when we write with a specific recipient in mind... more

In this class you will plunge into the personal themes that make your real life stories uniquely yours. In the first half of this class, instructor Alison Luterman will give you writing exercises carefully designed to elicit the undertones and overtones that elevate events and anecdotes into the realm of art... more

Do you feel you have a story inside you, but you’re a little leery of getting thrown in the deep end? In this class, you’ll gently wade into the vast sea of memories and experiences you’ve been carrying around for your whole life... more

“Many people are driven to write by the simple human need to express ourselves,” says instructor David Jacobson. “There may be no better way to meet that need than through the short, pointed burst of intellectual and emotional energy that goes into a newspaper column, op-ed or blog post... more

“Since brevity is the soul of wit,” join us for a day of reading and writing flash memoir. A close cousin to flash fiction, this genre zeroes in on brief-but-significant moments from our real lives and requires lean, precise language ... more