Workshops
Whether you’re writing a memoir, a Substack, or an artist statement, woven through the work is a story of self-clamoring to be told. Come gather and answer that clarion call to improve the world through a voice only you can offer.
There are no available registration dates at this time.
Note: This class will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom platform.
Class meets on Saturday & Sunday, April 22-23, 9am-4pm ET.
“To write as if your life depended on it; to write across the chalkboard, putting up there in public the words you have dredged; sieved up in dreams, from behind screen memories, out of silence– words you have dreaded and needed in order to know you exist.”
Adrienne Rich
The need to write can feel urgent. Whether you’re writing a memoir, a Substack, or an artist statement, woven through the work is a story of self-clamoring to be told. Maybe you keep pushing off your writing project into the future. Maybe a little voice admonishes that you don’t have anything original and necessary to share. Maybe today’s digital whirlpool of content has you overwhelmed. But still, you are compelled by the unmistakable sensation that writing is a necessity, not a choice.
Come gather and answer that clarion call to improve the world through a voice only you can offer.
Together with your classmates, I will champion you to write yourself onto the page, no matter whether you are drawn to memoir, editorial, graphic memoir, or first-person essay, to name just a few possible formats. Over the course of our immersive online weekend, we will draw inspiration from the various forms that blend combinations of life story, advocacy, and truth to power.
This class invites a broad range of writing styles that are as varied as the sources mined for motivation. Our common denominator is a keen desire to write a first-person viewpoint whose time has come—no one is expected to arrive with a draft, as you will have ample time to write each day. Whether it’s a rear-view recollection excavated from years past with book aspirations, or a contemporary column reflecting a current worldview, this course can help catalyze, crystalize, and then actualize your voice and story.
Each day I will facilitate dynamic discussions, build in significant writing time, and oversee rich opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback in ways that strengthen and refine your work. Come quiet the voice of procrastination once and for all!
This course is also offered as a week-long on-campus workshop, view here for more information.
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Instructor: Anita Verna Crofts
Anita Verna Crofts is on faculty at the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. Her 2016 memoir published by Chin Music Press, Meet Me at the Bamboo Table, showcased a combination of prose, illustration, and photography. Anita teaches about the interplay of culture, identity, and communication and is the 2021-22 Artist in Residence for the Communication Leadership graduate program, where she offers courses on storytelling, creativity, and the relationship between personal narrative and leadership. Her classrooms are designed to be collaborative spaces that provide substantial time for individual reflection and skill sharpening. Anita’s writings on food and identity have been published in Gastronomica, Saveur, Seattle Met, and Comestible, with a particular emphasis on the preservation of foodways in post-conflict societies as a means of preserving community identity. Her work appears in the four-volume set, Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Anita is a German Marshall Memorial Fellow, Thomas J. Watson Research Fellow, and serves as a judge for the James Beard Foundation book awards.
