NEW WRITING CLASSES!
in San Francisco and San Miguel de Allende (and some reading recommendations)
Greetings!
I’m teaching a new series of three-week classes in San Francisco on writing memoir. These classes are taking place at a wonderful writers’ co-working space I just joined, Backstory Above, above Green Apple Books in the Sunset district in San Francisco. Each three-week class will use a memoir as a text and model for learning to write memoirs. You can take the classes separately, or take both.
I’m also doing a week-long memoir class in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in August (which is not hot at altitude),a perfect place to explore and be inspired. The retreat is also appropriate for people working on personal essays or other narrative nonfiction.
First up:
Memoir: An Evening Series with Laura Fraser
Reading Joyride, by Susan Orlean
Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm April 20, April 28, May 5
The Backstory Above, upstairs at Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Ave (at Lincoln)
Susan Orlean’s Joyride is both a memoir and a master class in memoir. In this class, we’ll read the book together and discuss students’ own memoir processes -- how to start, themes, structure, writing about people you know. Each class will include an exercise to help students work on their own memoirs.
The class comes with an optional half hour consultation and critique with Laura about your own work. In advance of your conversation, she will read up to five pages of your memoir, or a description and outline.
Class limited to 10 people. Click to register.
Please read the book before the class if you can — you can buy it at Green Apple! My memoir An Italian Affair will also be on sale.
Memoir: An Evening Series with Laura Fraser
Reading The Art of Memoir, by Mary Karr
Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm May 26, June 2, June 9
The Backstory Above, upstairs at Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Ave (at Lincoln)
Mary Karr is a master memoirist, and her book The Art of Memoir is indispensible for aspiring memoirist. It demystifies the craft of writing memoir, blending personal anecdotes from her own life and teaching career with insights from other writers. It's an accessible, irreverent, and honest exploration of the genre, covering the mechanics, history, and emotional truths of writing about one's own life.
The class comes with an optional half hour consultation and critique with Laura about your own work. In advance of your conversation, she will read up to five pages of your memoir, or a description and outline.
Class limited to 10 people. Click to register.
Please read the book before the class if you can — you can buy it at Green Apple! My memoir An Italian Affair will also be on sale.
A memoir retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Monday-Friday, August 17-21
Come be inspired by the magical colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, where Laura has lived part-time for over 15 years. We will be meeting every day from 10-12:30 p.m. for a craft talk about memoir, with plenty of time for you to write and explore in the afternoons. The class will be limited to eight students. Every student will have a 45-minute conference with Laura to go over up to 5 pages of memoir to talk about voice, outline, structure, or anything that is making you feel stuck.
There are two bedrooms of accommodations in the Bird House, where the retreat will be held, and lots of nearby places Laura can recommend. We will have a welcome reception at Laura’s house the first evening, and then we can make reservations for optional meals. Laura can help you make your week a memorable one by recommending activities from hot springs and walks in the canyon to salsa dancing and great restaurants and art galleries. We’ll have an optional afternoon visit to a couple of Mexican artists’ studios.
Price not including airfare or accommodations is $1250 for the week.
San MIguel de Allende is wonderful in August-- it’s high altitude and not hot!
Email Laura for more information.
Reading recommendations:
My reading year has started out strong. A few outstanding fiction books I recommend:
• Isola, by Allegra Goodman. Based on the true story of a 16th-century woman who was left on a barren island to die, and managed to survive.
• The Director, by Daniel Kehlmann. Beautiful novel about an Austrian director who collaborates with the Nazis in order to be able to continue to make beautiful films.
• A Burning, by Megha Majumdar, about an Indian family’s efforts to escape poverty and come to the US.
• The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans, old-school sweet novel about a woman who still writes letters.
Non-fiction:
• Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, about why we are sabotaging clean energy technologies and hampering our scientific inquiries.
• Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams. This book will make you never want to use Facebook again after its revelations of hypocrisy (especially of Sheryl Sandberg, of Lean In fame, who ignored sexual harassment right under her nose), greed, and Mark Zuckerberg’s insatiable appetite for sucking up to authoritarian regimes if it can increase his already near-infinite money and power.
Also!
Personal writing retreat in Mexico?
What about a writing retreat of your own in San Miguel de Allende? Rent one of my houses, both of which have dedicated writing studios, terraces, A/C, and are in a great location in the historic Centro. San Miguel de Allende is a very safe part of Mexico. If you subscribe to my Substack, I’ll give you a 10% discount on your stay. Just let me know when you contact me.
Thanks for reading!
I am also available for book doctoring and writing coaching.
