ONLINE CLASS: Telling the (Loving) Truth About Your Family: A Purposeful Memoir Workshop
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network, with a special focus on purposeful memoir and media arts for social and environmental justice.
Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Her memoir, What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes.
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College/Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network, with a special focus on purposeful memoir and media arts for social and environmental justice.
Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Her memoir, What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences, and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes.
She offers writing workshops online and in person, author coaching and manuscript review, and is the co-founder of the Birth Your Truest Story online writing community and the publisher at Green Fire Press.
Find out more at JenniferBrowdy.com.
About purposeful memoir
Jennifer coined the term “purposeful memoir” to describe the contemplative process of looking backward in order to understand the present more fully, necessary inner work for all who wish to change the world for the better.
Spiritual ecologist Joanna Macy notes that Jennifer’s own purposeful memoir, What I Forgot…and why I remembered, “can inspire us all to see how our lives have been hijacked or distracted from what we most deeply desire, and how we can reclaim our own lives for the sake of life on Earth.”
Psychologist and author Mary Pipher noted that What I Forgot “documents the process of waking up to the world around us and demonstrates how vibrant and rewarding an engaged life can be.”
Anne Baring, author of The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul, described What I Forgot as “a beautifully written and moving memoir of a woman’s search to find her authentic self, buried beneath decades of social conditioning and academic prejudice. It offers hope, inspiration and support to all those who, aware of disaster staring us in the face, are searching for courage and insight into how to respond. A timely and most valuable contribution to the greatest challenge of our times.”
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network, with a special focus on purposeful memoir and media arts for social and environmental justice.
Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Her memoir, What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes.
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College/Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network, with a special focus on purposeful memoir and media arts for social and environmental justice.
Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Her memoir, What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences, and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes.
She offers writing workshops online and in person, author coaching and manuscript review, and is the co-founder of the Birth Your Truest Story online writing community and the publisher at Green Fire Press.
Find out more at JenniferBrowdy.com.
About purposeful memoir
Jennifer coined the term “purposeful memoir” to describe the contemplative process of looking backward in order to understand the present more fully, necessary inner work for all who wish to change the world for the better.
Spiritual ecologist Joanna Macy notes that Jennifer’s own purposeful memoir, What I Forgot…and why I remembered, “can inspire us all to see how our lives have been hijacked or distracted from what we most deeply desire, and how we can reclaim our own lives for the sake of life on Earth.”
Psychologist and author Mary Pipher noted that What I Forgot “documents the process of waking up to the world around us and demonstrates how vibrant and rewarding an engaged life can be.”
Anne Baring, author of The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul, described What I Forgot as “a beautifully written and moving memoir of a woman’s search to find her authentic self, buried beneath decades of social conditioning and academic prejudice. It offers hope, inspiration and support to all those who, aware of disaster staring us in the face, are searching for courage and insight into how to respond. A timely and most valuable contribution to the greatest challenge of our times.”
Jennifer lecturing. Photo by B. Docktor
Families are central to our life stories, and often so complicated. In this three-session writing workshop, we’ll focus on telling family stories with loving respect and clear-sighted honesty—perhaps with a dash of humor and drama thrown in, to leaven the mix.
Learn how to use description, dialogue and character development to build a well-paced, compelling story. Get the benefit of a productive, encouraging draft workshop, receiving carefully designed and facilitated feedback from your instructor and the group.
You’ll emerge from this workshop with new insights into your family dynamics, and a polished family story that you might even want to share at your Thanksgiving table this year!
There will be time during each class for questions and discussion.
Class Date: 3 Fridays, November 3, 10 & 17, 2023 – just in time for Thanksgiving gatherings!
Time: 9-10:30 am ET
Class Length: 1 1/2 hour
Price: $120
This class is online. You can enjoy it from your own home using your laptop, iPad or smartphone.
Once you register, we’ll send you a Zoom link to join the class on the specific day, at the appointed hour.
You don’t need a Zoom account. Just click the link and you will be admitted.
We will send you the zoom invitation once you register for the class.
Please log in a few minutes early to greet the others and to get situated.