Isabel Allende confessed, “I write to preserve memory against the erosion of oblivion and to bring people together.”

Every life is a story and when we write that story, we not only preserve it but open doors to a past that we have forgotten. Memoir is a tool for discovery and the joy of sharing life lessons: the disappointments, the heartaches, and the triumphs.

As a writing process memoir is more concerned with the emotional truth of occurrences and moments from your life versus biography which is most often focused on factual or chronological events.

In this introductory memoir workshop, we will examine the different ways that your story can be told. Will it be as a travelogue, a focus on major events that influenced your life, or will it be about a relationship with a loved one?
Brief readings will illustrate some of these methods.

The final half hour will be reserved for a writing exercise based on a ‘prompt’ to unlock the confidence you need to begin writing your story.

A recommended reading list of traditional and innovative memoirs will be provided.

About Gina Roitman
Novelist, short story writer, and writing coach, Gina is the author of the literary thriller, Don’t Ask; the auto-fiction collection, Tell Me a Story, Tell Me the Truth; and the co-author of the biography Midway to China and Beyond. She has written the memoirs of two Holocaust survivors and her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, magazines, and poetry collections. Gina is also the subject and co-producer of the award-winning documentary film (2013), My Mother, the Nazi Midwife and Me.

www.ginaroitman.com

Yom HaShoah Author talk with Gina Roitman

Co-presented with 3GDC and The Generation After