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Spring Registration Opens Feb 23
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MEM 120 W — The Powerful Launch: Memoir Workshop

Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Julia Scheeres
Duration: 10 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Apr 3—Jun 5
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Fridays
 
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1000
   
Refund Deadline: Apr 5
 
Unit(s): 2
   
Enrollment Limit: 18
  
Status: Registration opens Feb 23, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Spring
Day: Fridays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 3—Jun 5
Unit(s): 2
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $1000
 
Refund Deadline: Apr 5
 
Instructor(s): Julia Scheeres
 
Enrollment Limit: 18
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Registration opens Feb 23, 8:30 am (PT)
 
 
In a memoir’s opening pages, the author must set up the central drama, introduce tension, and present dynamic characters that keep readers turning pages, eager to learn their fate. This course will show you techniques to do this, which include setting up a clear theme, building momentum, and using artful language. (A little mystery never hurts.) Each week, we'll deconstruct the first chapter of a memoir from such authors as Sonali Deraniyagala, Tobias Wolff, Carmen Maria Machado, Jesmyn Ward, and Kiese Laymon, looking for how each narrative engine turns on. In addition to weekly writing exercises, everyone will craft and submit a memoir opening (up to 3,000 words) for supportive feedback from both peers and instructor. Whether you’ve yet to start your book or have finished a draft but are unsure of your “hook,” this course will leave you with the tools and confidence to create a more powerful memoir launch.

JULIA SCHEERES
Author

Julia Scheeres has written three books. Her memoir, Jesus Land, was a New York Times and London Times bestseller. Her narrative history of the Jonestown tragedy, A Thousand Lives, was included in The Guardian's "Top 10 books about the 1970s." Her most recent book, Listen, World!, is a biography of Hearst columnist Elsie Robinson. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review.