Lauren Kessler: Writers of the Lost Arc
An arc is necessary for every (Western) story. (See Gish Jen's TIGER WRITING for why it might not be necessary in Eastern tales, but I digress.) As challenging as it is for fiction writers, it is in my opinion even more challenging for nonfiction writers who have to either find the arc and not invent one, or—as is often the case in memoir—have to choose an arc out of the infinite ways we can view and present the same series of events.
Lauren Kessler is a multi-award-winning author of fifteen books (of which only some are represented here) including narrative nonfiction, immersion reportage, memoir, and biography. She has taught writing and journalism for the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, and the Forum of Journalism and Media in Vienna. She firmly believes that for any book, the arc is foundational, and she is going to teach us how to find/tease/build/create one. And, as you can see from her workshop title, she is fun and has a sense of humor.
So, I hope you'll join us, and please note that this meeting is NOT on the fourth Thursday of the month as usual, but on the fifth: Thursday, April 30th, 5:30-7:00pm PT.