Why do you want to write a memoir? What has made it important, what’s making it urgent, to bring your past into the present? In this workshop we’ll discuss inspiration, process, points of view, dealing with resistance, using all the senses in writing, using research. What are some things to think about if you don’t have much experience as a prose writer? How do you keep focused on what’s most important, profound, particular to you, to your sense of your own experience, and to your heart? There will be several opportunities to write, as well as to read aloud and discuss what we’ve written. Bring paper and something to write with, and the titles and authors of some memoir writing you’ve been moved by. Most important, bring in a photo, a letter, or an object to write from.

Katherine Koch, a visual artist and memoirist, has shown her paintings extensively in the United States, Europe, and Mexico. In addition to awards including residencies and a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, she has worked collaboratively with writers, musicians, and theater artists. Excerpts from her forthcoming memoir about growing up among New York School poets and artists have appeared in Hanging Loose, Poetry Daily, The Saranac Review, Court Green, and Nowhere and The Best American Poetry Blog.