MARCH WORKSHOP—Writing in Proximity to History
MARCH WORKSHOP—Writing in Proximity to History
March 8, 15, 22 & 29, 2024
3:00-6:00 PM EST
This workshop will introduce participants to the creative practice of memory work. Akin to what Toni Morrison called “literary archeology,” memory work involves both research and imagination:
“On the basis of some information and a little bit of guesswork, you journey to a site to see what remains were left behind and to reconstruct the world that these remains imply” (Toni Morrison, The Site of Memory).
During our time together, we will journey to sites of our respective pasts, gather fragments and traces we find there, revisit family myths and origin stories, and write into the gaps between memory and history. We will explore what it means to be a “next gen writer,” trying to reclaim histories that have been buried or erased. We will experiment with creative tools and hybrid forms for writing in proximity to those histories.
Registration Options (choose one from the drop-down menu below):
WORKSHOP: This month-long workshop includes weekly readings and examples of memory work by next gen writers and artists, in-class guided writing and take-home writing provocations, and a structured and supportive small group environment for experimentation and feedback on new writing.
WORKSHOP + 1-ON-1 CONSULT WITH KIM: At the end of the workshop, you may submit up to five pages of writing to Kim and schedule a 30-minute, one-on-one meeting to discuss your writing in the context of your larger memory work project.
Registration closes on March 1. Registered participants will receive a Zoom link one week in advance of the first workshop.
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Week 1: The Site of Memory
Where does memory work begin? How do we trace a past that has been not merely forgotten, but purposefully censored, buried, or erased? In our first session, we’ll draw from the writing and wisdom of Toni Morrison, consider the relationship between memory and imagination, and journey to sites of our respective pasts to see what remains we can find there and what we might make out of them.
Week 2: Family Myths and Origin Stories
Is there a story you’ve been told over and over again about your family origins, so much so that you feel you’ve always known it? What happens when you begin to question such stories and discover missing pieces, half-truths, even outright lies? In this second session, we will reflect on the origin stories that haunt us, and experiment with our own myth making as next gen writers.
Week 3: Between Memory and History
What happens when we try to place personal stories in proximity to public histories? How do we do so in ways that illuminate both the connections and the contradictions between them? In our third session, we will read and experiment with hybrid forms of writing into the cracks between memory and history.
Week 4: Re-Search and Be-Longing
As next gen writers, what do we do with our longing to know an unknowable past? How might we harness the desires and failures of the present as a means of not only reclaiming the past, but reimagining the future? In this final session, we will experiment with creative tools for embracing our own temporality and writing across time.