Telling the Truth Through Fiction Workshop
with Jennifer Browdy
September 8, 2022
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
A workshop in purposeful memoir:
Sometimes it can be easier to tell the truth about people and social groups in fiction than in memoir; Edith Wharton’s novels “ring true” in their astute observations about people of her social milieu in New York, the Berkshires and Europe. In this intensive one-day writing workshop, inspired by Wharton, you’ll be guided to write a true story from your own life, first as memoir, then as fiction.
We’ll share and discuss the pros and cons of both forms, and consider whether it might actually be the case that you can be truer in fiction than in memoir.
The Mount's general COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines may be found here.
The Mount is a Massachusetts Cultural Council UP designated organization welcoming participants of all disabilities. Please contact The Mount at 413-551-5100 or by email, info@edithwharton.org, to discuss accommodations needed to participate fully in this event.
- $200 tuition
- The workshop is limited to 20 participants.
- Sample schedule: 10 am - 12:00 pm, morning session; 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, bring lunch or visit The Mount's Terrace Café; 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, afternoon session.
- Beverages and snacks are provided and included with the workshop.
Biography
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College/Simon’s Rock. Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Gold winner in the Independent Press Awards and a 2021 Nautilus Gold Award winner. Her memoir, What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards, and her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Jennifer has presented and taught at numerous national and international conferences and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes. She edited the anthologies Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America & the Caribbean; African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices and Writing Fire: Celebrating the Power of Women’s Words. The founding director of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, which ran from 2009 – 2016, Jennifer provides coaching and manuscript review for authors in fiction and nonfiction.