WALPOLE, N.H. – Award-winning author Pam Bernard will hold her popular memoir workshops again on Zoom. They will begin the week of Jan. 3, 2022 and continue through February. Days and times vary depending on the workshop.
Writing memoir involves more than recounting experience. In fact, the compelling memoir has little to do with experience. Rather, the work of memoir is in the struggle to understand what to do with that experience, how to perceive it as the adult narrator who receives flashes of memory, often unbidden. Ultimately, the central task of memoir is to fashion a narrative, to weave the disparate threads of our lives into a story with which a reader can identify, because that story is, above all, emotionally true.
We never really know ourselves until we begin to write about our unique experience. A safe, nurturing space in which to begin, to experiment, to challenge one’s assumptions, is crucial. These workshops combine the serious study of craft – narration, voice, tone – with ample writing from prompts. During each workshop participants will begin a fresh draft, as well as have the opportunity for existing draft to be critiqued by the group.
Pam Bernard is author of four books, the most of recent a verse novel titled “Esther.” She is also a painter, editor, writing coach, and adjunct professor at Keene State College. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College and B.A. from Harvard University. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Please email pam@pambernard.com, visit www.pambernard.com, or call 603-756-4177 for more information, including days and times.