Tell Your Story – a creative memoir-writing course for ages 50+
UNB’s Andrews Initiative is pleased to launch the first event for our Year of Creativity & Inspiration!
Our first activity will be a creative life-writing course, entitled Tell Your Story. The course will run on Wednesday evenings from 6-9PM, for four weeks beginning on June 1. All classes (except June 15) will be held in Marshall D’Avray Hall, room 123. In the course, participants will work with instructors to begin producing a creative memoir.
Each session in the course will offer participants an opportunity to explore a different creative approach to memoir writing.
June 1:
Jane Stewart will work with the class to begin thinking creatively about the stories they have to tell. Jane is a seasoned teller-of-tales having worked and travelled abroad enhancing her abilities to process the living-learning experience through the ‘eyes and ears’ of children, youth and our ageing population, in both community and institutional environments. Honouring all forms of communication, her wealth of experience inspires us all to engage in the opportunities we reveal to ourselves through our written and oral historical accounts of life. Her experiences as Educator / Teacher within the public and private school systems as well as UNB Saint John, Drama in Education; N.B. Committee on Literacy Symposium presentations and guest appearances as Storyteller at Ottawa’s famed Lumiére Festival are few of the many experiences she uses in her continued personal and professional quest: making meaning in our lives through story.
June 8:
Kathie Goggin, retired therapist, writer and artist, will facilitate a memoir-writing workshop with the class. Kathie has several years experience teaching memoir writing. She is a dynamic group facilitator and instructor who generates excitement for storytelling and writing. Her work has appeared in Breaking the Word Barrier: Stories of Adults Learning to Read, The Telegraph Journal and several newsletters and journals. She is a member of the Writers Federation of New Brunswick.
June 15:
The class will take a field trip to Rabittown Press, David Brewer’s typesetting studio. David Brewer studied physical education/education at UNB and, after four years of doing this, that, and the other thing, went on to study at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax. Ordained in the United Church of Canada, he began drawing and painting in the 80s and gradually found himself in the area of Celtic Art and design. He started printmaking in the nineties with woodcut and linocut and etching, and went on to do some stencil printing (pochoir), screen printing, and drypoint. Recent years have seen him put most of his energy into letterpress and relief printing at his studio, Rabbittown Press, in Fredericton, NB. This workshop on typesetting will help participants develop a beautiful cover for their memoir.
June 22:
Students will work with Denise Rowe to bring together the pieces they have been working on thus far in a bookbinding workshop. Denise Rowe is a graduate from the New Brunswick College of Craft & Design, where she received her Certificate in Specialty Photography. But while she was there, her guilty pleasure was taking multiple book-binding classes! From an early age, she’s loved paper – how it smells, how it feels, and how fun it is to create with. She’s created one-of-a-kind books for over 10 years, teaching workshops in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Many of her books are in private collections.
By the end of the course, participants will have created a beautiful book they can continue to fill with reflections and creations, while completing a memoir. This course is for those aged 50+. Registration is now open and space is limited – visit www.unb.ca/initiatives/andrews to register!