Writing as Oath: Personal Truth-Telling in Memoir and Essay

Description: This workshop comes directly from my own practice as a memoirist, where writing is all I have and where telling the truth feels both necessary and complicated. Much of my work asks how we tell our own stories as acts of survival and witness, especially when healing is ongoing, and the facts of our lives feel scattered or charged with shame.

In this class, we will focus on personal truth-telling in memoir and personal essays. I will share how I work through the challenges of researching my own life, returning to memory and records, and holding facts together when fear or self-doubt wants to blur them. We will discuss revising our shame, choosing what to keep private, and telling a story from the present with clarity and authority, even when that authority appears vulnerable.

Participants are invited to bring a short excerpt from a current personal essay or memoir…