Class

2026 Year-Long Memoir Writing Project with Kelly Sundberg—Winter Online Cohort

Memoir is many things, but it should not be the stale, academic writing you’ve been taught in traditional composition courses. Contemporary memoirs often break genre boundaries by incorporating visual or poetic elements. Although not fiction, memoir can incorporate fictional aspects of storytelling by utilizing dialogue and narrative. Memoirs are true, but that truth should be universal, which means it strives to illuminate the human condition by finding the meaning in everyday interactions. You don’t need to have lived an exciting life to write a beautiful memoir, but you will need to access an exciting (or new) perspective.

This class is for people at all stages of the memoir writing process. You may have a completed draft already, but you don’t feel that it’s ready to send to agents or publishers yet. Maybe you’ve been wanting to start a memoir, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’re struggling with writer’s block or low confidence. Regardless of where you are in the process, this class will meet you where you’re at and help you to complete a draft of the memoir that you were meant to write. Everyone leads a life that is important enough to write about. Memoirs can be about a unique time in your life or specific incidents, but they may also explore themes that have recurred throughout a lifetime. Whatever story you’re telling, this workshop will help you learn the elements of craft that make your story vivid, compelling, interesting, and beautiful.

Although we will focus on memoir, writers who work in other creative nonfiction genres such as personal essay, travelog, nature writing, or narrative journalism, are also welcome.

One year is plenty of time to write a working draft of your memoir. Throughout the year we will visit and revisit what we need to know about how to begin your memoir, how to keep it moving from chapter to chapter, how to end it, and what to do with it once you’ve finished. Through reading, writing, discussion, workshopping and revising, we will study the many aspects of the craft of memoir writing: voice, setting, tone, dialogue, scene and summary, revision, editing and getting your book out into the world.

We will also meet authors, publishers and literary agents, and will develop the resources and relationships to move ahead with a writing life once the course is finished. At the end of the year, you will be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to pitch to editors and pursue publication.

We will meet via Zoom for all cohort meetings for the entire year. Visiting writers and publishing professionals will be revealed soon! Please consider registering for this option if you are not local to the Twin Cities, or you'd simply prefer the convenience of never having to leave your home or favorite coffee shop while working on your memoir project. Log-in information for your weekly meetings will be communicated via your confirmation email.

One-on-one mentor meetings with Kelly Sundberg will be held over the course of the year, live online via Zoom. These include one introductory meeting before the program kicks off in January, and one manuscript consultation session with Kelly after the program concludes (and you submit your final manuscript) in December, 2026.

Please see the Memoir Writing Project page at loft.org for program specifics and schedule.

Your program orientation meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. CT live via Zoom.

Your final public reading will be online on Wednesday, January 13, 2027, at 7:00 p.m. CT live online via Zoom. Log-in information for orientation and final reading will be communicated via confirmation email.