What do you remember about your past? What have you forgotten? This three-week online workshop explores the ways we draw on memory as a resource for our writing. Revisit old family stories, commemorate a beloved friend, or process a painful time in your life through either poetry or prose. As we write, we will let memory and forgetting play off each other, investigate the role of imagination, and learn techniques for recreating memories on the page. Each session will include writing prompts, in-depth discussions of writing craft, and opportunities for participants to share their writing with one another. Join the co-authors of Millions of Suns (University of Michigan Press, 2023) for this memory-focused writing workshop.

This writing workshop is intended for participants 18 years old or older.

Three Weeks: Tuesdays, March 19, March 26, April 2 — 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern

Online: Held via Zoom. Join from anywhere!

Please contact info@WritePittsburgh.com with questions about accommodations.

About your Facilitators:

Sharon Fagan McDermott is a poet, musician, and a teacher of literature at a private school in Pittsburgh, PA. She has published four collections of poetry—chapbooks Voluptuous, Alley Scatting (Parallel Press), and Bitter Acoustic (winner of the 2011 Jacar Press chapbook competition) and her full manuscript, Life Without Furniture, published by Jacar Press in 2018. Millions of Suns is Fagan McDermott’s first book of essays and is part of the University of Michigan Press’ “Writers on Writing” series. Additionally, she has just completed a new poetry manuscript, entitled Smoke and Sparrow, for which she is currently seeking a publisher. Website: sharonfaganmcdermott.com

M. C. Benner Dixon, Ph.D., (Christine) lives, writes, and grows things in Pittsburgh, PA. She is quick to make a pun and slow to cut her grass. Christine works as a freelance editor and writing coach. Her debut novel, The Height of Land, is the 2022 Orison Fiction Prize winner and will be released by Orison Books. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Reckoning, Flash Fiction Online, Funicular, Fusion Fragment, Appalachian Review, and elsewhere. Christine is the interim Executive Director for Write Pittsburgh. Website: bennerdixon.com

Community Agreements:

By registering and attending, you agree to the following: Write Pittsburgh provides an intentional writing community space. Anyone who exhibits behavior such as practicing hate speech, visual disruptions, or other behaviors determined antithetical to the session's intentions will be removed from the event immediately, without discussion, and without refund. For the safety of all, please do not share the workshop link with anyone who has not registered. Workshops may be recorded but are only for Write Pittsburgh review - they will never be shared publicly. Please refrain from taking/sharing photos or recordings of the workshop.