CNF 108 — Memoir Workshop: Braiding the Strands of Your Story
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Amanda Montei
Date(s): Jan 16—Mar 20
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $655
Refund Deadline: Jan 18
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 18
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 16—Mar 20
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $655
Refund Deadline: Jan 18
Instructor(s): Amanda Montei
Enrollment Limit: 18
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
Crafting a compelling book-length memoir goes beyond recounting your earliest memories—it requires deliberate planning to shape how events unfold and connect, ensuring the most significant moments take center stage. In this workshop, we will explore how to effectively structure a memoir by managing the passage of time, drawing inspiration from such authors as Roxane Gay, Mary Karr, and Maggie Nelson. Through readings, discussions, and writing exercises, you’ll learn to establish a primary timeline for your memoir while weaving in key periods or research threads to enrich context, plot, and characterization. We'll delve into strategies for defining your story's boundaries and moving fluidly through time to build tension and deepen meaning. You will also experiment with methods for condensing, expanding, and editing material to highlight the most relevant scenes and details. Each writer will be able to submit up to 5,000 words of their work for peer review and instructor feedback, with individual conferences available for personalized guidance on revisions.
AMANDA MONTEI
Author
Amanda Montei is the author, most recently, of Touched Out. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, ELLE, TIME, The Cut, Mother Tongue, Slate, Electric Literature, Vox, The Rumpus, Salon, The Believer, Ms. Magazine, Poetry Foundation, and numerous literary journals. She was a 2020 Best American Essays notable. Montei has taught, lectured, and presented work at Stanford, Columbia, NYU, UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, St. Mary's College of California, CSU East Bay, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, University of Virginia, SUNY at Buffalo, and Diablo Valley College. She has also taught with Catapult, Corporeal Writing, Hugo House, Writing Workshops, and Write or Die, and she runs the newsletter Mad Woman. Montei received an MFA in writing from the California Institute of the Arts and a PhD in English literature from SUNY at Buffalo.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.