All About Memoir
One-Day Virtual Retreat
I'm so excited to announce a one-day virtual retreat that will run from 10am-5pm ET on the 11th of May that will be focusing entirely on memoir!
The incredible lineup includes:
Presentation topics include:
Each 40-minute session will be followed by a 20-minute Q and A in which delegates get to ask the presenters all their burning questions.
The retreat will be taped and the recording will be sent out the next day.
The registration fee is US $ 149.00
If you would like to attend, but cost is a barrier, please email me at bianca.tsnotyaw@gmail.com to discuss a scholarship.
The incredible lineup includes:
- Catherine Gildiner - Catherine Gildiner was a clinical psychologist in private practice for twenty-five years. Her bestselling memoir Too Close to the Falls was published in 1999 to international acclaim. It’s two sequels, After the Falls and Coming Ashore were also bestsellers, as was her novel, Seduction, and her work of nonfiction, Good Morning, Monster: Five Heroic Journeys to Recovery. She lives in Toronto.
- Chelsea Devantez - Chelsea Devantez is an Emmy-nominated writer, comedian, and filmmaker. She was most recently the Head Writer on Jon Stewart’s Apple series, The Problem with Jon Stewart, in addition to a Co-Executive Producer on the ABC show Not Dead Yet starring Gina Rodriguez. At the beginning of 2022, Chelsea entered into an overall deal with 20th Television where she is developing her own TV shows. She began her TV writing career on Jon Stewart's staff at his never released (nor titled) HBO show and since her first go-round with the host, Devantez has written on Peacock's Girls5Eva, ABC's Bless this Mess, NBC's Abby’s, and Comedy Central’s The Opposition with Jordan Klepper. In 2020, Chelsea wrote, directed, and starred in the 2020 SXSW film, Basic, and is set to direct her feature debut this fall. In addition to her film and television projects, Chelsea is the host of a top-performing, independent podcast, “Glamorous Trash with Chelsea Devantez" which has garnered over 3 million downloads. Her memoir, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This (But I'm Going to Anyway) will be published in June 2024 by Hanover Imprint at Harper Collins.
- Courtney Maum - Author of five books, including the game changing publishing guide BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL and the memoir, THE YEAR OF THE HORSES, (chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness), Courtney is a writer and book coach hellbent on preserving the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands. A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates prize and the host of the monthly “Beyond Fiction” conversation series at Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Courtney’s essays and articles on creativity have been widely published in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, and her short story “This is Not Your Fault” was recently turned into an Audible Original. A frequent interviewer of high-profile writers such as Anne Perry, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Edouard Louis, Courtney is also the founder of the learning collaborative, The Cabins. You can sign up for her publishing newsletter and enroll in her online writing classes at CourtneyMaum.com
- Bonny Reichert - Bonny Reichert is a chef and the author of the upcoming memoir, How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty, to be published by Ballantine Penguin Random House (US) and Appetite Random House (Can). A National Magazine Award-winning journalist, Bonny honed her editorial skills in the journalism world before packing up her knives and heading to culinary school. In the years since, she has explored her relationship with food on the page, penning a chef column in the Globe and Mail and features in a variety of publications, in addition to her memoir. Bonny holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from King’s University, and she teaches writing at both of these universities. How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty, won the Dave Greber work-in-progress award in 2022, and will be out in January 2025.
- Abby Maslin - Abby Maslin is the Washington Post bestselling author of the memoir, LOVE YOU HARD (Dutton), and a contributing essayist in MOMS DON'T HAVE TIME TO HAVE KIDS (Skyhorse Publishing). A distinguished educator and national speaker on caregiving and wellness, Abby is currently at work on her debut novel. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, two children, and adopted island dog.
- Ronit Plank - Ronit Plank is an award-winning writer, teacher, and podcaster who hosts Let's Talk Memoir featuring interviews with memoir writers and teachers. Her writing has earned Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net nominations and has appeared in The Atlantic, Writer’s Digest, Hippocampus, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets and Writers and elsewhere. WHEN SHE COMES BACK her memoir about the loss of her mother to the NetflixWild Wild Country guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and lives in Seattle with her family where she edits memoir manuscripts and teaches memoir workshops.
Presentation topics include:
- A live critique of 3-4 of the delegates' query letters conducted by Courtney Maum in which she'll give practical and actionable advice on how to elevate your memoir query letter.
- An interview conducted by Bianca Marais in which she discusses Chelsea Devantez's memoir as well as Chelsea's advice to memoirists.
- Writing a Childhood Memoir: Writing from a child’s perspective is fraught with pitfalls for memoirists who aim to capture those formative years of childhood authentically and with credibility. During this presentation, Catherine Gildiner will discuss how she approached writing from a child’s point of view as she did in her Internationally bestselling memoir, Too Close to the Falls. She’ll also discuss a psychological approach to taking your most vivid memory, as well as your worst and best memories, and how to build your story around them.
- Finding your Narrative Arc: Memoir writing is all about telling your story, right? Yes. And no. No matter how compelling the events of your life, a memoir requires you, as the author, to transform real life into a narrative arc specific to your book, your themes and your message. A memoir is not the story of your life but a story from your life and the best ones metamorphose real life so thoroughly, they read almost like fiction. In this session, author, editor and writing instructor Bonny Reichert will demystify the narrative arc and share techniques to help you finding yours.
- We Can Do Hard Things... and Write About Them Too: If truth is stranger than fiction and everything is copy, then no genre is quite as memorable (or tricky) as memoir. Join Abby Maslin as she shares insight about tackling our hardest stories in writing and making them accessible to readers. Participants will learn how to elevate honesty and compassion in their writing while creating a writing routine that is self-protective and generative. From tips about translating personal trauma to the page, writing about people close to us, and identifying the connective tissue across our stories, this is an essential conversation for memoirists in the making.
- Putting the Plot in Your Memoir: The heartbeat of a memoir is a mind at work trying to make sense of what we’ve experienced, why it still gnaws at us, and what we might do about it. As memoirists our job isn’t merely to report the circumstances we endured, but create gripping narratives that keep readers invested and turning the page. In Ronit Plank's session, we’ll explore the nature of plot in memoir, how to know whether you have one, tools to help eliminate baggy parts of your manuscript, and four key elements memoirists can harness to amplify tension and stakes in their manuscripts so they crackle with resonance and momentum.
Each 40-minute session will be followed by a 20-minute Q and A in which delegates get to ask the presenters all their burning questions.
The retreat will be taped and the recording will be sent out the next day.
The registration fee is US $ 149.00
If you would like to attend, but cost is a barrier, please email me at bianca.tsnotyaw@gmail.com to discuss a scholarship.