Memoir Writing Project Specifics
2022 Creative Nonfiction and Memoir Writing Project
Cohort Meetings
Participants will meet weekly as a cohort during the winter/spring term (12 weeks; February–April), biweekly with additional Saturday meetings during the summer months (June–August); and weekly again during the fall term (12 weeks; September–December).
The plan is that the in-person cohort will meet at Open Book, in a Loft classroom, beginning in February 2022; if issues arise beyond the Loft’s control that makes this impossible (as they did in 2020 and 2021 with the global pandemic), meetings will take place online via Zoom.
The online cohort will meet via live weekly video meetings over Zoom.
Each student will also meet one-on-one with Nicole Helget four times over the course of the year. These meetings include one introductory meeting before the program kicks off in February and one manuscript consultation session with Nicole after the program concludes (and you submit your final manuscript) in December; this meeting must take place before February 28, 2023.
In-person Cohort Meeting Dates
Held at the Loft at Open Book | all times listed in US Central Time
Year-Long Writing Project Orientation
Thursday, January 27, 2022 | 6–7:30 p.m.
In the Performance Hall at Open Book
Winter/Spring Term Meetings
Tuesdays | 6–9 p.m.
February 1 – April 19, 2022
Summer Term Meetings
Tuesday, June 7 | Tuesday, June 21 | Saturday, June 25
Tuesday, July 12 | Tuesday, July 26 | Saturday, July 30
Tuesday, Aug. 9 | Saturday, Aug 20
All summer Tuesday sessions meet 6–9 p.m.
All summer Saturday sessions meet 10 a.m.–noon
Fall Term Meetings
Tuesdays | 6–9 p.m.
September 20–December 13
No class November 22
Final Public Reading
Tuesday, January 17, 2023 | 7 p.m.
In the Performance Hall at Open Book
Online Cohort Meeting Dates
Via Zoom | all times listed in US Central Time
Year-Long Writing Project Orientation
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 | 6–7:30 p.m.
Online, via Zoom
Winter/Spring Term Meetings
Thursdays | 6–9 p.m.
February 3–April 21, 2022
Summer Term Meetings
Thursday, June 9 | Thursday, June 23 | Saturday, June 25
Thursday, July 14 | Thursday, July 28 | Saturday, July 30
Thursday, Aug. 11 | Saturday, Aug 20
All summer Thursday sessions meet 6–9 p.m.
All summer Saturday sessions meet 2–4 p.m.
Fall Term Meetings
Thursdays | 6–9 p.m.
September 22–December 15, 2022
No class November 24
Final Public Reading
Thursday, January 19, 2023 | 7 p.m.
Online, via Zoom
CNF/Memoir Writing Project Books
Participants will be assigned four recent memoirs or longform creative nonfiction works to read and learn from throughout the year. Examples of past cohort book assignments include:
- Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn
- Tailings by Kaethe Schwehn
- The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman
- The Bride Price by Mai Neng Moua
- The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twenty-Something Spent a Year in Iraq by Bronson Lemer
- We'll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down by Rachael Hanel
CNF/Memoir Writing Project Visiting Guests
Throughout the year, four to six visiting writers and publishing professionals will meet with your cohort as special guests. Examples of past guests include:
- Laila Lalami
- Rumaan Alam
- Mira Jacob
- Courtney Maum
- Kent Nerburn
- Kaethe Schwehn
- Sean Sherman
- Mai Neng Moua
- Ann Regan
- Bronson Lemer
- Erik Anderson
- Rachel Hanel
- Faye Bender
- Michael Perry
- Ariel Gore
- Richard Blanco
- In addition to many other visiting writers and publishing professionals from local and national publishing houses, publications, and literary agencies.
Nicole Helget is the author of a memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways (Borealis Books); two novels, The Turtle Catcher and Stillwater (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt); and three middle-grade novels, Horse Camp, co-authored with Nate LeBoutiller (Egmont), Wonder at the Edge of the World, and the forthcoming Fern’s Grove (Little, Brown and Company).
Helget was selected as a Barnes and Nobles “Discover Great New Writers” and “Featured Authors” and has starred reviews from Booklist and Publisher’s Weekly. Her work has earned the Tamarack Award and Speakeasy Prize, as well as Midwest Selections Pick, several Minnesota Book Award nominations, and two Minnesota State Arts Board grants.
Featured reviews have appeared in People magazine and “Weekend Edition” on National Public Radio. She works and lives in St. Peter, Minnesota, with her family.