Island Mountain Arts

Courses and Training

Writing a Memoir with Luanne Armstrong, August 9 and 10, 2008

Writing a Memoir
August 9 and 10
9am - 3:30pm

Instructor: Luanne Armstrong

Early Bird Fee: $185 + GST (If paid before June 15th)
Regular Fee: $210 + GST

Course Description: Personal memoir is one of the most popular and evocative forms of writing and is in demand. Writing memoir means examining and making meaning from the stories in which you have participated. But memoir also uses most of the same techniques as novels. Thus, the true stories we create using these techniques have the drama of fiction and force of fact

This course is designed to enable participants to achieve two goals -- to identify and structure their personal story and to give them the skills to begin, carry through and complete a memoir. We will also discuss possibilities for publishing and marketing. . The instructor will also give information on the specific craft and genre demands of memoir, The instructor will provide supportive personal feedback on each student’s work.. Although there is no textbook, the instructor will provide handouts on the above topics, as well as examples of memoir, lists of publishers, and a reading list.

BIO: Luanne Armstrong, MFA, Ph.D, is a novelist, freelance writer, editor, and publisher. She is deeply interested in writing about place and nature. Her new book, Blue Valleys, An Ecological Memoir, a book about her lifelong relationship with her family’s farm in the Kootenays, was published in the Fall of 2007 by Maa Press. Her research interests also include the ethics of autobiographical writing, ecological identity, and writing as inquiry. She has published over fifty stories and essays in magazines and journals, .

Luanne is the author of thirteen books, including poetry, novels, and children’s books. She has been nominated for numerous prizes and awards. Her first novel, Annie was a best-seller in Germany. Her YA novel, Jeannie and the Gentle Giants, was nominated for Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year; the Sheila Egoff BC Book Prize award and the Red Cedar award. It placed second in the Silver Birch Award. It was also named by McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg as one of their top ten all time best children’s books. Her essay, Tuning the Rig won the Canadian Author’s Association first prize. Her most recent novel, The Bone House was shortlisted for the Canadian Sunburst Award for Science Fiction and the Relit Prize for Fiction. Her new children’s book, Pete’s Gold, based on a true story of lost gold on her farm, will be out next spring from Ronsdale Press.

Luanne has taught Creative Writing for many years, at Langara College and at other colleges and summer schools in BC and Alberta. She is also a popular speaker and workshop leader at writing conferences. She is presently working on a book on the ethics of autobiographical writing for Pacific Educational Press as well as a book of essays about environmental ethics. She is an adjunct professor of Creative Writing, teaching online for the University of British Columbia.

Currently Luanne lives on her organic heritage family farm in the Kootenay region of BC.

Please Send Me More Information on Writing a Memoir with Luanne Armstrong August 9 and 10, 2008