Some ancestors are sweet, vivid childhood memories. They are family gatherings, old stories, lullabies. Others stare at us from photographs as if waiting to speak. Still others are haunting shapes, often nameless, nestling in the crevices of their memory, insisting we ask them questions—and that we listen for their answers. As a writer of memoir, I have felt drawn to all of them; I have been in awe of the ways we can meet them on the page, even if we have never met them in person. As a teacher of memoir, I have been privileged to witness individual writers, and communities of writers, engage in the powerful time travel that writing about those who came before us requires. In this course, we will engage in this memory work together.

In this course you will learn how to write a cross-generational narrative of your family utilizing memory, imagination, and research. Lessons in the craft of memoir and in the creation of personal archives will guide writers as they time-travel into the past and evoke and connect with the stories of their ancestors, even when they know little about those stories. By the end of the workshop, students will have completed a draft of a memoir piece that focuses on one or multiple ancestors and will have a toolbox of writing strategies that will enable them to continue to work independently on their memoir. The class will meet on Zoom and there will also be Blackboard activities and resources to support the weekly practice.