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Ethics of Memoir

Mondays: August 3 - 24
7 - 9:30 p.m. EST

Led by HALEY MLOTEK
with guest authors Susan Orlean, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sarah Miller, and Jamie Hood

$450 ($400 until May 8)

Please register with the email to which you’d like to receive class correspondence and readings.

The adage is “write what you know,” not “write who you know” — but as so many of us find, there’s no way to write about ourselves without writing about all the people we’ve encountered over the course of our lives. In the intimacies of all kinds of relationships—families, friendships, loves, breakups, to name just a few—writers often find both their subject and their story.

What are the responsibilities towards someone you trust and love?

What about the responsibilities for someone you distrust and hate?

What about all of the above, all at once?

How can a writer, in their work, keep their standards for their art high and the standards for their people fair?  

This course is an invitation to discuss the ethics of writing a memoir that includes the lives and stories of other people, as well as a practical exercise in writing and revising memoir pieces. Students should expect a thought-provoking and generative course, with a curriculum best suited for writers with a memoir piece in any stage of progress, from idea to draft. There will be a wide range of readings from memoir essays that provide valuable insights into the delicate balance a writer must keep when writing about real people. Classes will be seminars, each including a craft discussion, a prompted writing practice, and conversation with guest authors.

Each session will feature a new guest author, chosen for their artistry and skill as writers of all mediums but especially memoir. Students will hear from Susan Orlean, Hanif Abdurraqib, Sarah Miller, and Jamie Hood, and have the opportunity to pose questions directly to the authors about their process, from initial idea to publication, as well as hear them speak about their influences and background in memoir writing and the ethics of it. Writing prompts inspired by each guest author will be shared with students each week, with the goal of completing a draft of their own short memoir piece by the end of the course. 

In this course, students can expect to:

  • Read a wide range of contemporary and classic memoir essays

  • Discuss, debate, and consider all kinds of approaches to the ethics of writing memoir

  • Learn new approaches to the craft of memoir, and explore techniques and approaches to writing with ethics in mind 

  • Participate in prompted writing practices that draw on craft discussions

  • Learn from and ask questions to our renowned guest authors 

  • Join a community of writers working in the same genre

About the Instructors

 

Haley Mlotek

 
 

Hanif Abdurraqib

Susan Orlean

Sarah Miller

Jamie Hood

 

Details

This course will take place on Zoom. Participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the course as well as a recording of the course afterward.

After you take a course with Off Assignment, you’ll be invited into our private writing community for alumni on Slack. It includes channels for publication opportunities, reading recommendations, meet-ups, and more—not to mention literary companionship that outlasts the course itself.

There is a 10% cancellation fee if you cancel your enrollment more than 1 week before the start of the course. No refund will be given if cancelling within less than a week of the course start date (or after the course has begun).

Please email courses@offassignment.com with any questions.

FAQs →

Financial Aid

The full price for this course is $450, with early bird pricing at $400 available until May 8. Payment plans are available at checkout via ShopPay.

A limited number of scholarships for this course are available. Please fill out this form by May 15, and we’ll get back to you within a week after the deadline. (Please hold off on registering until you have received a scholarship decision.)

 
 

Off Assignment’s Masters’ Series courses are unique four-session courses that delve deep into a specific writing topic by harnessing the expertise and craft tactics of a renowned writer in a particular niche, plus four celebrated authors. Participating writers gain a wealth of advanced techniques while benefiting from a cohesive community of disciplined writers.