The Art of Memoir: Telling your story in a Time of transformation

MASTER CLASS 2021 IS NOW FULL. 

The cost for the masterclass this year is $1750 and includes an initial introduction session, five days of workshop, and one group reading. 

We can’t emphasize this enough: this will be a life-changing event. The power you will harness as a result of attending will be tremendous.  You will laugh and sometimes cry, and you will leave the workshop with important tools, a growing community, and a meaningful relationship with an amazing writer and teacher who understands and supports the creative process, as well as your specific needs and goals. 

Rebecca has worked with dozens of writers at every stage of their writing process, from initial idea to jacket design and platform building. She’s also written a New York Times bestseller, two critically acclaimed memoirs, and a novel currently being adapted for film with Debra Martin Chase and the Bruce Cohen Company. She has edited four groundbreaking anthologies, and written on two Amazon Prime series including One Mississippi. She is a popular speaker and has addressed hundreds of audiences, from Harvard, Facebook, and JP Morgan Chase, to the Ministries of Culture in Estonia and the Circolo dei Lettori in Turin. 

Her newest book, co-written by Lily Diamond (a workshop alum!), What’s Your Story: A Journal for Everyday Evolution, is a great companion to the workshop.

Email us for more info, or register now. Space is limited. 

 

A general outline of the themes we will cover each day during our three hour sessions.  This year, we will have an introductory session on the evening of the 7th and a group reading on the evening of the 13th. 

Day One        Voice: The Source

Day Two        Memory: How Memory Works

Day Three    Situation and Story: The Where and the What. 

Day Four       Structure: Putting it All Together

Day Five        Process and Patronage: The Madness and the Market

Rebecca Walker was named one of America’s most influential leaders by Time Magazine, and has worked in various capacities with some of the most creative people in the world, including Madonna, Steven Spielberg, Kara Walker, Mara Brock Akil, Mike Nichols, Joey Soloway, Tig Notaro, Me’Shell NdegeOcello, Dawoud Bey, and Kehinde Wiley.

Rebecca was educated at Yale, holds an MFA from Spalding University, and received and Honorary Doctor of Letters from the North Carolina School of the Arts, joining fellow recipients Forrest Whitaker and Maya Angelou. She has been on Oprah, Charlie Rose, NPR, Good Morning America, and featured in press around the world.

Rebecca writes every day. Read her books, watch the Amazon Prime she helped develop: One Mississippi, and find her articles and commentary at CNN.com, Newsweek, Salon, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, The Root.com, Real Simple, Jewcy.com, Buddhadharma, Glamour, and more. Visit her here.

Photo: Amanda Marsalis

“Working with Rebecca is to discover that her gift for writing is equally matched by her ability to teach as she masterfully holds space for every type of story and person. With compassion and patience she helps each writer discover their story and then provides a generous toolbox of resources and wisdom for the way forward. She leaves no stone unturned, making AOM the most joyful learning experience of my life. Thank you, Rebecca.” ––Rosanna Llorens

“Being immersed in the week long intensive was a revelatory experience that put me in touch with my own clarity and purpose. As an instructor Rebecca builds a foundation of community grounded in compassion, integrity and honesty. She is a consummate teacher, editor and mentor. Rebecca is blissfully open and devoted to helping every student find their truth.”  –Valorie Thomas

“I can’t even begin to express how much I loved this workshop. The revelations I gained along the way were priceless. Experiences like these come along once in a lifetime. Rebecca Walker is phenomenal.” –Petrina Khashoggi

Rebecca Walker has discovered a way to create an environment that feels utterly singular. She has a rare ability to bring together rigor and vulnerability, risk and safety, intensity and breath. While writers had periods of time to write, read, and reflect, we also engaged in concentrated sessions of feedback; it was as if temporality itself stretched and retracted to accommodate our praxis. Rebecca’s interest during the week was to generate community amongst writers who were delving into very personal explorations, and her lived insight into the question of “practice”–the practice of writing and how it is inherently informed by practices of living–made for an experience that reached participants far beyond the level of task, skill, or technique. ––Ariel Osterweis

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Photo: Ming Smith