Everyone’s story has value. Family, friends, people with similar backstories, even strangers find hope and encouragement in the stories we tell. We remember history, preserve culture, and build roads to healing and peace. This workshop will provide prompts, guidelines, and ideas to get your memoir started or overcome hurdles. Plan on active writing, sharing with constructive comment and critique, and collecting resources to make your memoir sing to readers, be it creative nonfiction or memoir in verse.

Georgia A. Popoff is a program coordinator of the YMCA of CNY’s Downtown Writers Center at the YMCA of Central New York in Syracuse, N.Y., where she also teaches poetry and creative nonfiction for both adults and teens. An editorial consultant and book coach, she is the Poet Laureate of Onondaga County, N.Y. (2022-2024) and the Under Discussion series editor for the University of Michigan Press. Her fourth collection is Psychometry (Tiger Bark Press, 2019).