Have you always wanted to capture your family’s story but aren’t sure where to start or don’t know how to write it? Have you spent a lot of time gathering genealogical or historical material only to find you don’t know how to organize, preserve, or integrate it? Is there a particular narrative passed down by ancestors with no documentation? How do you make the story interesting to readers outside the family? Once you’ve recorded your story in writing, how might you make it available to others, in print or digitally?

“The histories of families cannot be separated from the histories of nations,” writes Susan Griffin at the beginning of a book that sets her family’s story into the context of the Second World War. Workshop participants will learn about different nonfiction forms that feature robust, compelling family narratives. Each session will include writing prompts and in-class time to respond to the prompts. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to identify and use narrative elements that render a story vivid, concerned, and fulfilled.

Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).

If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.