This course is for students actively engaged in writing a memoir. The course will include a blend of workshop and craft topics: finding your structure, creating compelling scenes, developing setting and a sense of place, and developing emotional stakes/conflict. In addition, each writer will have two opportunities to share short (five-page) excerpts of their work to be discussed in class. Each meeting will feature a mix of short readings, focus on a craft topic, and workshop/discussion of student work, and some in-class writing exercises. Readings will include a mix of diverse voices, including Carlos Eire, Edwidge Danticat, Garrard Conley, Sherman Alexie, and many others. Students will leave the course with greater practical knowledge of the craft of Memoir/Creative Nonfiction, and tools they can use to move their memoir projects forward.
Instructor: Judah Leblang is a storyteller, memoirist and writing teacher. His essays and commentaries have been broadcast throughout the US on more than 150 NPR and ABC-network radio stations, as well as several Canadian stations. He is a regular columnist for Bay Windows, Boston’s gay newspaper, and an instructor at Grub Street. The 2nd edition of his memoir, Finding My Place: One Man’s Journey from Cleveland to Boston and Beyond, was published in 2013. His new book Echoes of Jerry is about his Uncle Jerry, an orally-educated deaf man as well as Leblang's own struggles with his sexuality and trying to find his place in society, finally coming out in the mid-1980s. Clips of his performances and writing are at www.judahleblang.com.
---
Details: Intermediate Memoir - February 2024 takes place Mondays February 12, February 19, February 26, March 4, March 11, March 18, March 25, and April 1 from 6:30-9pm remotely via Zoom.
