IOWA SUMMER WRITING FESTIVAL

Memoir Breakthrough: Putting It All Together (Weekend Workshop)

Dates/Time

Friday, May 14–Sunday, May 16, 2021

Friday on Zoom, 7:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. Central Time (8:00–9:00 Eastern; 5:00–6:00 Pacific; 6:00–7:00 Mountain)

Introductions and overview of class mechanics.

Saturday and Sunday on Zoom, 10:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Central Time (11:00–3:30 Eastern; 8:00–12:30 Pacific; 9:00–1:30 Mountain)

You will have a half-hour break/quiet writing time mid-session each day.

Fee: $300

Course Description

Overwhelmed at the thought of beginning your memoir? Wondering how to make it meaningful yet manageable? Whether your memoir is just a fleeting idea, one page of notes, or an actual rough draft, join us for an engaging, interactive weekend dedicated to answering your questions, clearing hurdles, and offering inspiration and direction. This fast-paced workshop incorporates presentation, Q&A, discussion, exemplary memoir excerpts and selected writing prompts. 

Open to all levels. No matter where you are in the process, plan to leave with a solid sense of direction, memoir writing resources, and the inspiration to move forward.

Instructor

Linda M. Bendorf is an award-winning instructor and writing coach who has inspired both novice and seasoned writers in the Iowa Summer Writing Festival for nearly three decades! Linda's recent essay, Quest for the Rufous-Capped Warbler, will appear in the Nov/Dec 2021 issue of Bird Watcher's Digest. The essay reveals how intuition and hard work help us to find the magic...in birding and writing! Linda is director of Blue Sage Writing, which offers one-on-one coaching, manuscript editing, and Boulder-based workshops and private writing retreats. Linda’s essays, features, and poetry have also appeared in The Sun Magazine Readers Write, the Chicago Tribune Media Group’s Triblocal, The University of Iowa’s The Daily Palette, USA Today, Gannett News Service Wire, Des Moines Register, Instructor, The Iowan, and Gather Magazine. Linda and her husband, Carl, live on Colorado’s Front Range where they hike, bird, bike and marvel at the ever-changing sunsets over the Rockies.

Registration & Fees

The fee for this course is $300. Payment in full is required to register.

Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Class size is limited to 12.

Note: Your credit card payment will be processed by an external provider and will appear on your credit card statement as “UI Writing—Magid Center.” 

Refund & Cancellation Policy

If you need to cancel your enrollment in a Festival class, please let us know as soon as possible. We can only offer full refunds if you cancel two weeks prior to the start of class. After that, before the start date of class, we can offer a 50% refund. We cannot refund day-of cancellations, and we cannot refund or partially refund tuition once the class has begun.

Terms & Community Policy

The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is a community built on an assumption of shared enterprise, in the spirit of mutual respect. We reserve the right to a) revoke the registration of or b) dismiss from the program any person who disrupts the learning/working environment of others. Participants in the Festival are subject to all University of Iowa policies governing conduct in our community, whether online or in person.

Questions?

Contact the Iowa Summer Writing Festival: iswfestival@uiowa.edu. Phone: (319) 335-4160. Our tiny staff is working remotely. If you phone and we miss you, please leave a message!