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

MASTER CLASS 2023 DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON! 

The cost for the masterclass this year is $3250 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 five groundbreaking anthologies, and written on two Amazon Prime series. 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 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 to join the waitlist for 2023 or 2024.  

 

A general outline of the themes we will cover each day during our three hour sessions.  We begin with an introductory session the evening before our first workshop, and end with a group reading at the close of the master class. 

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 an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the North Carolina School of the Arts, joining fellow recipients Forrest Whitaker and Maya Angelou. She has participated in the global conversation about art, commerce, identity and power for three decades across all continents, and been featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, NPR, Channel 4, CNN and others. 

Rebecca creates every day. Read her books, and find her articles and commentary at CNN.com, Newsweek, Salon, the Washington Post, Real Simple, Jewcy.com, Buddhadharma, Glamour, and more. Her new book, Women Talk Money is here. Listen to podcasts and interviews here or here. 

Dialogue with her team here.

Photo: Amanda Marsalis

“The workshop returned me to what I love about writing. Having Rebecca as a teacher made me feel fully seen and challenged. Since the class I have come back to writing with a new veracity. I am nearly done with the solo show, finished two tv pitches and have spent the last two weeks pitching: Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, OWN, Showtime, and Amazon is tomorrow. Forgive the list of accomplishments. I only share them because you evoked a change in me and I am forever grateful.” –K. Foster

“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