An Iowa City Weekend Experience from July 29-31
with Hope Edelman & Andrea Wilson
Writing a memoir involves the dual acts of storytelling and personal reflection. Any life narrative is a rich web of interconnected events and relationships, yet our personal recollections often reduce our lives down to a single story.
Much can be lost when we flatten our identity in this way, both in our writing and in our self perceptions. Writing that can probe depths of multiple perspectives and self is inspiring to readers. It’s also empowering for authors to take part in this process.
In this workshop with best-selling author and life coach Hope Edelman, and writer and narrative therapy practitioner Andrea Wilson, we’ll explore new methods for crafting rich life stories. Using exercises Hope and Andrea have designed just for this weekend, we’ll deconstruct and excavate the main themes of our stories. We will also learn how to re-author with a deeper, more multi-dimensional understanding of our human experiences.
This is the first memoir writing workshop, to our knowledge, that will incorporate techniques of Narrative Therapy** in this way. We look forward to having you be a part of this innovative and groundbreaking weekend!
** While Narrative Therapy techniques will inform the exercises in this workshop, which may give you personal value, the weekend is not designed to be a therapeutic experience. Our focus and intention will be placed on expanding your creativity and helping you develop your stories on the page.
THE SPECIFICS
Where: Summit St. Iowa City, IA
Cost: $675 ($625 early bird by June 30)
When: Friday (7/29): 3-6 PM
Saturday (7/30): 10 AM - 12:30 PM and 2 - 5 PM
Sunday (7/31): 10 AM - 12:30 PM and 2- 4 PM
WHAT WE’LL COVER
In this workshop, we’ll introduce you to a new way of approaching memoir, including:
Exploring your relationships with the dominant themes of your story
Helping you uncover the emotional story beneath the plotted action of your story (that’s what “thickening a narrative” means!)
Balancing narration and reflection to achieve universality
Examining the influence of culture and gender roles in your story
Bringing time and place into your story to add context to your experiences
Creating a temporary community of literary witnesses who will receive your story with curiosity and compassion
Learning how to hold space, listen, and participate in the crafting of our peers’ life narratives
THE EXPERIENCE
The workshop will be held at a beautiful 1920s home on historic Summit Street in Iowa City, the country’s first UNESCO City of Literature.
We’ll begin on Friday afternoon with a welcome session, an introductory exercise, and delicious appetizers. Then we’ll attend Hope’s reading at Prairie Lights bookstore, the flagship independent bookstore in Iowa City for more than 40 years, where numerous award-winning authors have read from their work.
The Saturday and Sunday workshop experience will continue in light-filled Victorian rooms. Hope and Andrea will take turns leading the group through dynamic exercises, with plenty of time worked in for writing and reading our work out loud. During quiet writing time and short breaks we’ll also enjoy backyard seating in a private outdoor space.
Workshop includes:
3 days (14 hours) of instruction
All workshop materials
Appetizers Friday evening
Continental breakfasts Saturday and Sunday
Coffee, tea, and water all day
Evening reading with Hope Edelman and John Price at Prairie Lights, to celebrate the release of Ned Stuckey-French’s essay collection, One By One, the Stars.
Come with:
A draft of a short memoir or section of a longer work that you’re ready to bring to the next level
A laptop or notebook and writing implement
Comfortable clothing for an Iowa July (it can be extremely humid and hot!)
What’s not included:
Lodging in Iowa City (please see our list of Recommended Local Accommodations)
Lunches on Saturday and Sunday
Transportation to and from the workshop site
THE INSTRUCTORS
Hope Edelman
Hope Edelman is the best-selling author or editor of eight nonfiction books, including the international best seller, Motherless Daughters. Her work has appeared in multiple outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Parade, Glamour, Psychology Today, Writer’s Digest, and CNN.com, as well as in numerous anthologies. She has taught writing workshops at the University of Iowa, Ohio State University, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Antioch University-LA, 1440 Multiversity, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She is a creative coach and also an early-loss life coach, and co-founded Motherless Daughters Retreats in 2016. A native New Yorker, Hope now lives in Los Angeles and spends summers in Iowa City, home of her heart.
Andrea Wilson
Andrea Wilson is the founder of the Iowa Writers’ House, the editor and publisher of We the Interwoven: An Anthology of Bicultural Iowa, and a narrative therapy practitioner in Iowa City.
A graduate of the leading Narrative Therapy Master’s Program – the Dulwich Centre at the University of Melbourne– her work, including research, practicum, and thesis, is based in the psychological healing possibilities of narrative therapy writing programs and protocols. She has developed public programming & curriculums through grants from Humanities Iowa, the Iowa Arts Council and the NEA.
