As writers in the memoir classes I lead master the art of writing about their lives, they find themselves with a new challenge: assembling finished stories into book form. Many of my students have met that challenge. Some collected their essays into self-published books for their families, a few worked with an online company called […]

Warning: Teaching memoir-writing is a gateway drug. I started leading a class 15 years ago. By 2011 I was leading two a week. In 2012, it grew to three. I’m up to five now. How do I keep up the habit? By taking breaks in-between the six-week sessions. I don’t edit or give writing prompts […]

Here’s part two of my post encouraging dads to write their memoirs. The dad I mentioned at the beginning of that post has more than one daughter — he has two. Both live in California, and when one gifted him with my memoir-writing class she made it clear to her father that he would be […]

The email came just before Father’s Day last year. A young woman wanted to know how to sign her dad up for my memoir-writing class. The request made me a little nervous. What if her dad didn’t like to write? Didn’t want to write? Couldn’t write? It’d be a gift, she said. A gift for […]

 Just another conversation at the CCAC. This morning, Beth attended the inauguration of new Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. To register for the event, she used an online form that was very intentionally and seamlessly accessible to her computer’s screen reading software. In advance of the event, Beth and everyone with disabilities planning to attend […]