Note: This is a discussion course. Everyone has a story to tell and one way to tell it is through writing a memoir. Memoir is a subgenre of creative nonfiction that can be book or essay-length; it captures a slice of the writer’s life, is written from the personal and reflective perspective of the writer, and uses the techniques of creative writing, such as voice, sensory detail, scene, dialogue, and more. This course will guide you in the discovery of the story you want to tell, help you develop your story-telling skills, and provide strategies, tips, and tools to get you started on your story. Through reading excerpts of published memoirs as examples of craft, completing a series of targeted writing exercises, and sharing your writing output with your fellow writers, you will locate your story and begin your memoir.



Instructor: Lisa Stolley is a creative and professional writer, and an English professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies. Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Florida Review, Passages North, Other Voices, Washington Review, and others. She is a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She earned an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Program for Writers at University of Illinois, Chicago. Course dates are Saturdays, April 20, 27, May 4, 11, 18, and 25.