Writing Grief: Re-Storying The Lives Of Those We’ve Lost (CREATE B5)

Grief and loss have long been the impetus for writing memoir and personal essays. Writers as diverse as C.S. Lewis, Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed have used the experience of losing someone to inspire and inform their writing.  In “re-storying” the life of the person lost, the writer recalls the individual and his relationship with him.

This session will focus on strategies for writers of nonfiction whose work focuses on the experiences that evolve from a death, and it will cover the use of writing as part of the grieving process and the creation of work that connects personal stories with the universal experience of grieving. Vicki will share examples from various writers and will discuss strategies for exploring grief and loss in nonfiction writing.

In addition to Vicki Mayk, who has taught a memoir workshop in a hospital bereavement program since 2012, the presentation also will include the perspectives of two writers: Heather Taylor and Tiffany Hadley — currently completing work related to the loss of family members.

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Location: Salon B Date: August 8, 2015 Time: 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm Vicki-Mayk Vicki Mayk