“Telling the Truth in the First Person”
A Yearlong Course in Memoir with
John Daniel
Memoir means, in essence, writing from memory. If only it were as simple as that sounds. The memoirist
must locate the story he wants and needs to tell, discover by writing his way into it the constellation of
experiences that compose the story, and bring the story alive on the page, shaping it there as
painstakingly as any fiction writer shapes a novel. It is a difficult voyage of discovery, but an exciting
and rewarding one.
Along the way, the memoirist must deal with questions unique to the genre. What is the writer’s
responsibility to those he writes about, including himself? What is his responsibility to the reader and to
the truth? Must he write with the scruples of a journalist, or can he take some of the liberties a fiction
writer enjoys? And if there are liberties he cannot take, are there also liberties he must take?
The aim of this course is for each participant to bring into being, in a period of twelve months, a
substantial draft of a book-length memoir. Like the Fishtrap yearlong novel course now under way, the
course is modeled after a year in a low-residency MFA program. It begins and ends with a one-week
workshop at summer Fishtrap, 2009 and 2010, and the group convenes once for a briefer session in
January 2010. Between these workshops participants correspond with the instructor individually, each
sending 25 to 30 new pages per month for critique and discussion.
Enrollment will be limited to eight participants, each of whom has in mind a particular memoir and
perhaps has begun writing it. Previous publication credits are not required. Each applicant will submit a
manuscript (up to 20 pages, double-spaced) that can be but does not have to be an excerpt from a
memoir-in-progress, and a statement (up to five pages) expressing how the applicant views himself as a
writer and how he envisions the memoir he wants to write.
Author of three memoirs, two volumes of personal
essays, and two collections of poems, John Daniel
has won two Oregon Book Awards for Literary
Nonfiction, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers
Award, and a fellowship from the National
Endowment for the Arts. A former Wallace Stegner
Fellow at Stanford University and James T. Thurber
Writer-in-Residence at Ohio State University, Daniel
lives with his wife, Marilyn, in the Coast Range
foothills west of Eugene, Oregon. His most recent
books are The Far Corner (April 2009) and Rogue
River Journal.
This yearlong course will start on Sunday, July 5, 2009 at Summer Fishtrap at Wallowa Lake, Oregon.
Participants will join John Daniel daily during the workshop week, and will enjoy all of the activities
available to other Summer Fishtrappers, including all Gathering events, which start on Thursday.
Summer Fishtrap concludes on Sunday, July 12. For more information about Summer Fishtrap, please
click here.
The entire group will convene for a long weekend (five days, four nights) session in January. The place
will be determined at a later date. It may be in Portland, but the location will depend on the geographic
distribution and desires of participants.
The course will conclude with a return to Summer Fishtrap in 2010, which will start on Sunday, July 11.
Between these workshops participants will correspond with the instructor individually, each sending 25
to 30 new pages per month for critique and discussion.
Prospective participants must submit a manuscript (up to 20 pages, double-spaced) that can be but does
not have to be an excerpt from a memoir-in-progress, and a statement (up to five pages) expressing how
the applicant views himself as a writer and how he envisions the memoir he wants to write. A $50
reading fee must accompany this proposal. The fee will apply to the course tuition for those who are
accepted. The deadline for manuscript submissions is May 15, 2009 (extended from April 15). Hardcopy submissions should be mailed to Fishtrap. Electronic
submissions are permissible; send it to director@fishtrap.org. Fishtrap will reply to your email to make
reading fee arrangements.
The course tuition of $6,000 includes:
* All activities and meals at Summer Fishtrap 2009 and Summer Fishtrap 2010
* All activities, meals, and lodging at the January meeting
* All individual instruction with John Daniel during the course
Tuition does NOT include:
* Lodging at Summer Fishtrap 2009 or Summer Fishtrap 2010
* Travel to and from Summer Fishtrap or the January meeting
* Materials or postage expenses
Tuition is payable in three installments: $2500 by May 15, 2009, $2000 by January 1, 2010, and $1500
by May 15, 2010. Alternatively, tuition may be paid in a lump sum by May 15, 2009, in which case a
$500 discount will be granted.
[Download a printable .pdf version of this information here]