Get ready to embark on the Writing Journey of Your Life!
Your Itinerary:
Spark your creative fires while enjoying the company of a lively, thoughtful group of women writers. Find new entries into the story of your life in a warm, supportive atmosphere. Bring your memoir in progress, your ideas, or just your enthusiasm. Enjoy optional accommodations at the historic Rookwood Inn, centrally located in Lenox, MA, the heart of the beautiful Berkshires.
Details:
You know you have a million great stories to tell, but you’re not sure how to get going, or how to organize the stories into a coherent narrative. You want to share your life’s highs and lows with others, whether just friends and family or the whole wide world, but you’re not sure what to include and what to leave out.
You know how to write your story descriptively and chronologically, but you’d like to think creatively about using narrative techniques like flashback, internal monologue, dialogue and detail to bring the reader along with you into the most powerful scenes of your life. You want the support and encouragement of a circle of women all working together to bring out the best in each other’s writing.
If you recognize yourself in this picture, the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Memoir Retreat is for you! We’ll gather at the picturesque Rookwood Inn in the beautiful Berkshire town of Lenox, MA, for an intensive weekend writing workshop that will provide structure and support for a memoirist in any stage of the writing journey, from working with the initial concept of the memoir to fine-tuning the details and narrative arc. There will be time for individual writing, and each participant will have a chance to share receive constructive feedback from the group, carefully designed to build confidence and enthusiasm.
The January retreat will place special emphasis on the PEOPLE who have had a special impact on shaping you and your life.
Your guide:
Jennifer Browdy
Jennifer Browdy earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at New York University, specializing in contemporary autobiographies and personal narratives by women from around the world. She has taught writing at the college level for more than 25 years, trained in the creative Bard Institute for Writing & Thinking methodology used at her home institution, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where she is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Media Studies.
The Founding Director of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, an organization aimed at nourishing and supporting the creative expression of women of all ages and from many walks of life, Jennifer is an accomplished and experienced journalist, blogger, editor and teacher of writing. Her own memoir, What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered: A Purposeful Memoir of Personal and Planetary Transformation, will be published in 2016.
Costs & hours:
Rookwood Inn Parlor
The tuition and facility fee of $425 per person includes Friday evening welcome, Saturday lunch and mid afternoon snacks, and Sunday breakfast. Workshop sessions will begin on Friday evening from 5:30 – 7:30 and run from 9:30 – 12:30 and 2 – 5 on Saturday, and 10 – 12 on Sunday. Rooms at the lovely inn, located in the heart of scenic Lenox, MA, are not included in the tuition fee but are available at special discounted rates to workshop participants.
Space is limited to 12 participants. Reserve your place now!
If you would like room reservations at the Rookwood Inn, visit the Inn’s homepage or call (413) 637-9750.