4-Week: Excavation Tools for Writing Our Lives

Do you struggle to access memory? Are you trying to expand on memories you already have? Memoir and personal essay writers are archeologists of their lives and, like these experts, need tools to excavate. In this class, we’ll explore how writers can use music, food, pop culture, news headlines, photos, and sensory and environmental cues to trigger and expand on the stories of their lives. To aid in our efforts, we'll examine the work of writers like Hanif Abdurraqib, Lidia Yuknavitch, Jaquira Díaz, Minal Hajratwala, and Lacy Johnson. We'll write and practice the tools we examine so that by the conclusion of the four weeks, writers will have a tool kit to take with them into future story mining.