WALPOLE, N.H. – Fall sessions of the memoir, as well as poetry, workshops with Pam Bernard begin the first and second week of October. Editor, writing mentor, and award-winning author, Bernard offers an array of hybrid options for writers in the area. With the Owl meeting device, the experience of tuning in from afar is markedly improved. Please visit her newly designed site at www.pambernard.com.
The workshops sessions, whether memoir or poetry, follow the usual structure: a craft lesson, followed by a free-write, and lastly the critique of participants’ drafts. These workshops are nurturing yet rigorous, with an emphasis on craft. Participants learn how to be better writers by studying those aspects of writing that shape a successful narrative or poem. The narrator in memoir, for example, or similarly the speaker in poetry, hold extraordinary power over how the narrative or poem is absorbed by the reader.
The issue of voice is central to Bernard’s teaching. Katherine Clarke, poet and professor emeritus, Antioch New England, says, “Pam’s special gift is listening for the authentic voice of a writer to emerge. Her groups are designed to welcome and nourish this voice. When I began to write from my life, she heard me before I did.”
Pam Bernard is author of four books, the most recent a verse novel titled “Esther.” A retired adjunct professor, she now devotes her time to helping writers locate and nurture their voices. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from Warren Wilson College, and bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her newest collection of poems, “Finding You,” was recently chosen as a finalist in the WordWorks Washington Prize.
Please email pambernardwriter@gmail.com, visit www.pambernard.com, or call 603-756-4177 for more information, including days and times.