WO111 Personal Essay/Memoir Workshop

Personal essays and memoirs celebrate curiosity, observation, prejudice, and other idiosyncrasies of the human condition. They use the techniques of literary fiction and journalism in service of compelling real-life stories. In this intensive workshop, participants will write and revise and then write and revise some more. Find your material in the city that surrounds you; the questions and answers you've stumbled across; the way life has surprised you, perplexed you, or maybe just tickled you pink. In addition to writing and workshopping, we will use exercises and readings to address issues such as narrative tension, transitions, character development, dialogue, point of view, imagery, and metaphor, and personal voice. We'll also talk through the publication process and how the Internet can make the submission process less intimidating, more efficient, and ultimately, more successful. Each participant will have a one-on-one 15-minute consultation with the instructor.

About the instructor: Lise Funderburg is a writer based in Philadelphia. She studied at Reed College and the Columbia University School of Journalism, and her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Nation, National Geographic, Garden Design, Cleaver, The Chattahooochee Review, and Prevention. Her latest book is the bestselling social history/memoir, Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home. In addition to literature fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Leeway Foundation, and James Thurber House, she has been awarded residencies at the Blue Mountain Colony, MacDowell Colony, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation. Lise teaches Creative Nonfiction at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University MFA Program.