Memoir workshops with Pam Bernard

Pam Bernard. Photo by Beck Paffrath.

WALPOLE, N.H. – New sessions of this popular eight week workshop are beginning the week of Jan. 16. Days and times vary from session to session. As well, new day-long workshops begin Jan. 7 and will continue on intermittent Saturdays. All workshops are hybrid so that writers who are not local can join in.

Crucial issues of craft are explored in these workshops, such as narrative stance and tone, while fresh work is generated each week from prompts. Participants are bringing experience to the page by harnessing memory and imagination, and learning to shape their writing into compelling narratives as a way to explore and ultimately honor their lives.

“One need not be working on a full–length memoir,” Bernard says. “We draft short narratives from prompts, which may or may not be woven together at some future time. As material accumulates, you begin to understand the past that emerges, sometimes unbidden, and make of it a story that conveys your deepest intentions.”

“Pam’s workshop is the highlight of my week,” Patti Whalen, of Westminster, Vt., a long-time participant, says: “Pam leads each session with skill and warmth bringing the process of memoir writing alive with support and creativity.”

Katherine Clarke, Professor Emeritus, Antioch University New England, another long-time participant, 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 has a powerful way of helping participants tease out and uncover emotional truths in the telling of our stories,” says Yvette Yeager, of Keene, N.H. “Her passion is contagious. I have tremendous admiration and respect for who Pam is and all that she has to offer. She’s a gift to this area and a warm, funny, lovely human being.”

Pam Bernard, writer, painter, teacher, and writing mentor is the author of four books, the most of recent a verse novel titled “Esther.” She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College Program for Writers and BA from Harvard University. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. “Nimrod,” “Cimarron Review,” and “Valparaiso,” are among the many literary journals that have published her work.

Preferred method of contact is via email at pambernardwriter@gmail.com. Or visit www.pambernard.com, or call for more information, including days and times, 603-756-4177.

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