It is What it Was: A Workshop on Forgetting, Remembering, Misremembering and Memoir(ing) DominiQue Christina February 3-5, 2023

This immersion looks to examine, interrogate, and practice the art of remembering and honoring what memory gives you in crafting stories- however you choose to craft them, as poetry, autobiography, plays, a series of short stories…how do you use memory to name? Is it necessary to remember it as it actually was or just as you hold it?

We’ll be exploring memory as a writer’s key resource, interrogating the nature of our remembrances, before examining the role of imagination in translating memory into writing: poetry/short story,etc. We’ll also consider the value of research as a basis for supporting memory where there are gaps.

How do we know whether our memories are accurate?If we accept that all memories are, in some sense, created fictions, what arethe implications for the writer? What is the role of the imagination in translating our necessarily incomplete and often imprecise memories into vivid writing forms?

We will be seeking the deep dive; the Mariana Trench of writing memory which is to say it can get dark and deep but it should also be revelatory; a resource, a breadcrumb trail you can either follow or build. You’re a writer. Which means you are a master architect. Build the house. Write what objects go inside. Then tell us their significance. It’s up to you. I trust you to remember what you need to. See you inside!