Life writing can be a radical practice of witness and testimony, taking the form of memoir, personal essays, journals, notebooks, letters, and more. This class will jumpstart your writing practice and help you shape your ideas on the page. For many of us, the hardest part of writing is getting started. This will be a generative workshop, full of prompts and short exercises, with plenty of time to share work and receive feedback. We will read wildly, taking inspiration from contemporary writers, finding ways to begin telling the stories of our lives. By the end of the week, students will have pages of material ready to develop into a longer project. This workshop is useful for everyone from true beginners to those with a work in progress.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week.