The Clayman Institute for Gender Research

Stanford Faculty and Staff are invited to join author Judith Barrington for this memoir writing workshop. Enrollment is limited to 12 attendees, and RSVPs are required. The workshop will address the unique character of memoir along with some of the particular challenges a writer faces when writing about his or her life. We’ll talk about the inclusion of a retrospective voice; how to handle the time frames when telling stories from the past, while also trying to make sense of them, looking back.   Looking closely at this literary genre, we’ll touch on a couple of craft issues that loom large, and then, stepping back, we’ll exchange ideas about what it means to be an honest memoirist.  Our time together will be spent in discussion, reading short examples, and trying out a few things on the page. Judith Barrington is an award winning poet, memoirist and librettist.  Her book, “Writing The Memoir,” is widely acknowledged as one of the best texts in the field.  As a Feminist and GLBT activist, she has been involved in innumerable campaigns here and in the UK.  She is the founder of Flight of the Mind Women’s Writing Workshops and Soapstone, a Women Writers’ Retreat.  She reads and lectures widely and is on the MFA Creative Writing Faculty at the University of Alaska. This event is sponsored by the Clayman Institute.

To RSVP, please contact Ann Enthoven at ann.enthoven@stanford.edu. 

Please see separate advertisements for the Feb 6 lunchtime public reading and the afternoon student workshop- “The Queer I,” GLBT Writing workshop.