Start Your Memoir (At Last!)

This course is suitable for beginners as well as more experienced writers who are looking for structure, accountability, and community. Over four weeks, we’ll explore memory, meaning, and voice through creative in-class exercises, readings, discussion, and homework. Each class will focus on creating a community of writers, as well as generating new material and developing confidence on the page so you can begin to shape your stories. Readings will include both canonical texts and contemporary voices, including Joan Didion, Jo Ann Beard, E.B. White, James Baldwin, Mary Karr, Roxane Gay, Jaquira Díaz, Doíreann Ni Ghríofa, and Yiyun Li.

About the Instructor

Sarah McColl is the author of the critically acclaimed literary memoir, Joy Enough (Liveright/W.W. Norton & Company, 2019). Since January 2021, she has published Lost Art, a monthly newsletter about the creative work of (mostly) dead women and a 2023 finalist for the Andy Warhol Arts Writers Grant. Her essays have appeared in the Paris Review, McSweeney’s, and StoryQuarterly, and her work has been supported with fellowship awards from Millay Arts, Ucross, Vermont Studio Center, and MacDowell.Student Testimonials

“From the readings to the generative prompts and lively discussions, I came away feeling refreshed and invigorated not only to write and read, but to make writing an important part of my daily routine. I'm grateful to you for helping me to feel alive and curious again.”

“I am grateful for the way Sarah holds safe space for sharing and inspires everyone to have fun with writing.”

“I felt like you set the bar high for how thoughtfully and carefully you approached each one of the pieces, especially when it came to concrete, creative ways of expanding on what was there. I felt pushed and inspired to think about not just what was already there, but what else could be there.”

Host or Publisher YoloArts