Friday, 29 September – Sunday, 1 October 2023

Discover the life-changing potential of memoir writing in this weekend intensive designed to take both experienced writers and beginners deeper into their hearts and their pasts. A deeply spiritual act, writing creates distance from which understanding takes root, helping you to know yourself and to examine how the events in your life have shaped you. Instructor Beverly Donofrio creates a supportive environment to help you tell your story, teaching craft techniques that make your memories come alive on the page. You’ll create a first draft in class, receive feedback and instruction, and then rewrite it using narrative techniques that invite the reader straight into that moment of your life. Telling your story can be profound and transformative. All that is required is a strong desire and the courage to understand and to write the truth.

Beverly Donofrio has published three memoirs. Her first, The New York Times bestseller, Riding in Cars with Boys, was made into a popular movie; her second, Looking for Mary, was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover Book; and her latest, Astonished, has been called astonishing. Her personal essays have appeared in many anthologies and periodicals, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Spirituality and Health, Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, Slate, LongReads, Hippocampus, and Brevity. Her NPR documentaries can be heard through Sound Portraits. She has taught creative nonfiction workshops internationally and across the United States and is currently on the faculty of the low-residency MFA program at Wilkes University. Ms. Donofrio lives in Woodstock, NY. Visit beverlydonofrio.com to read some of her essays.

To register, please contact our Guesthouse Office by phone (845-384-6660, ext. 3002) or email (guesthouse@hcmnet.org).