From Lived Experience to Story: Mapping Your Memoir

A memoir is not a record of everything that happened. It is a carefully curated story about what mattered, why it mattered, and what it means now.

In this three-week workshop, participants will explore how memoirists transform a lifetime of experiences into a compelling narrative. Through discussion of published memoir excerpts, we will examine how writers choose which moments to include, which details to emphasize, and how they uncover deeper meaning within their experiences. Together, we will explore questions such as: Why this story? Why these memories? And what makes one moment more essential than another?

Participants will be guided through reflection, writing exercises, and memoir-mapping activities designed to help them identify meaningful stories, recurring themes, pivotal moments, and emerging insights within their own lives. Through this process, students will begin exploring which experiences feel most alive on the page and what larger questions, transformations, or discoveries may connect them. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the stories they may want to tell and a clearer sense of where a potential memoir might begin.

Participants will receive handouts, suggested readings, and optional between-session writing exercises.

For students aged 13 and older.