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A well-organized writing group write on varying life experiences. We meet once a week to inspire and encourage creativity. Weekly assignments receive positive feedback and mutual support. Improving our work is our objective. Producing polished work is our goal. This is NOT a drop-in class. 

Come to read and enjoy plays in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. English reading and speaking skills are required. No acting experience is necessary. 

An opportunity for writers to meet, discuss and critique each others' work-in-progress.

Instructor: Arlene Higgs

Write your life stories two pages at a time, focusing on themes and questions designed to invoke reflection, insight, and creativity. In this small group, we will reflect on our lives, share our stories, and give each other supportive feedback.

This is a small, supportive workshop that will help you write your life stories. Each week, Arlene will present a theme and related questions on such topics as turning points, family, work, and aging. These have been carefully designed to spark memory, reflection, and self-understanding. You’ll write two pages at home. When we come together, you’ll read your story while the rest of us listen. Note that this is not a writing class—it’s a friendly circle of people sharing their life stories and giving each other encouraging feedback. We’ll get better at exploring the shape and meaning of our lives, we’ll connect with one other, and we’ll have a lot of fun.

This program takes a structured approach based on the Guided Autobiography (GAB) method developed at the University of Southern California. It will be led by Arlene Higgs, who is a GAB instructor trained and certified by the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies. More than 500 certified GAB instructors currently lead groups in libraries, community centres, and institutions of learning in over 25 countries around the world.

Instructor: Cathy Sosnowsky

In this interactive course participants will be prompted to write about and share their life experiences of joy and sorrow.

Writing poetry or prose about your deepest feelings can lead to relief, understanding, and connection. Examples will be used to encourage participants to write spontaneously about the pain they have experienced over losses—of loved ones, a career, a home, a marriage, one’s health…. We will also write about happy memories and times of insight. Sharing what you write within these classes is always optional: as we know, listening is also a way of reaching out! Compulsive writers, shy writers, those suffering from writers’ block are all welcome. What you produce will not be judged in academic or critical terms. This is a course in writing for self-expression.

Join Ruth Kozak with new prompts in memoir writing.

How do Memories and Dreams connect? And how do they relate to your memoir writing? The next five weeks of Write From the Heart will explore your memories and dreams as well as provide prompts that will help evoke new stories.