When Memory is Not Enough [Ann Hedreen]

All Levels | A memoir writer’s greatest gift is memory: messy, unpredictable; sometimes sharp, often murky. We help it along with research, interviewing, factchecking. But sometimes we truly can’t remember something, and there’s no one left to ask: Did this happen? We’ll focus on how to use imagination when memory’s not enough, and how to cue our readers that we’re doing so. We’ll study writers who do this well, like Dani Shapiro and Sarah M. Broom. Students will have 3-4 opportunities for in-class writing.