Writer-In-Residence Program

Denman Island Readers & Writers Festival

Writing the Memoir

Class Limit: 10 - SOLD OUT

Dates: five days, Monday - Friday, July 12 - 16, 2010

Where: Denman Island Arts Centre

Fee: $350.

This course focuses on the memoir form as literature rather than family history, or diary or journal writing, although each of these might be an element in any compelling memoir. We will talk about the purpose of a successful memoir, its meaning and value, its place in literature and in life, and the ways various writers have shaped their successful memoirs, what devices they have used to make their points, and to tell their stories. We will study structure, narrative arc and dramatic tension, the use of symbols and images, and the techniques of fiction as applied to the memoir form, while examining successful memoirs to find out why and how they work so well. Questions such as what the real story is, what to put in and what to leave out, where to begin and where to end, and most important of all, how to find the right voice, will be discussed and investigated through question and answer, lecture, discussion, and workshopping of participants’ pieces. All this in five four-hour sessions!

Each participant will submit a work-in-progress in advance (see details below) and each day we will workshop two or three pieces, so please bring ten copies. This isn’t an absolute requirement, so if you don’t want your material to be workshopped, you can opt out. However, I promise a very gentle experience; I wouldn’t tolerate anything else.

Participation in the program requires the following:

•Advance registration. Spaces are limited to ten participants and can be secured only by full payment of fees. Spaces will be awarded on a first-come first-served basis. Registration opens January 15, 2010.
•Advance submission of work to the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival. Submit a piece of writing in the memoir genre of up to 2,500 words. Work must be received by June 1, 2010.
Detailed Submission Guidelines provided upon registration.