Current Series

Finding the Writer Within

Harrington Public Library in Harrington, DE

Everyone has a story to tell. If you like to journal or write letters, or have ever wanted to write your own autobiography, this series is for you. We’ll read five different memoirs, set in different places and at different time periods and explore how their authors went about turning their lives into literature. Then we’ll look at how you can do the same.

Sessions will include tips on how to use letters and journals to write memoir, explorations of the importance of evoking place and time in memoir writing, and writing exercises.

Please join us on these Thursdays from 7 to 9pm!

September 10 - Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings
Examine how Welty’s descriptions of small-town life are made interesting and how to apply some of the same techniques she uses to describe your own childhood.

September 24 - Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life
What if you weren’t a loveable character as a child– would anyone want to read your memoir? Explore how Tobias Wolff honestly exposes his own failings but ultimately creates a sympathetic and reliable narrator.

October 1 - Mary Karr, Liars Club
How can we get at the truths in our families, especially if the people who know them don’t want to share? Is it possible to tell our stories from the perspective of ourselves as children? Karr’s book shows us how to do both.

Meetings are free and open to the public. Sign-up is requested. Books may be picked up at the site at least two weeks before each session; participants should read the books in advance of the sessions.

This program is made possible, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting arts in Delaware. For additional information on arts activities in Delaware, visit the Delaware Division of the Arts homepage.