Memoir Festival

Malachy McCourt is unable to attend the Memoir Festival due to illness.

How much can I, should I, tell? And what’s the best way to tell it? Professional and beginning writers alike wrestle with questions like this when they write memoir, whether it be a magazine piece or a book-length manuscript.

Writing is often a solitary venture, but sometimes there is nothing more inspiring than to be in the company of fellow and accomplished writers in writing workshops. This second annual Memoir Festival at Omega gathers together leading memoirists who will address our many questions and quandaries about writing from life, offering answers grounded in their own experiences.

Through panel discussions and dialogue, interactive writing workshops, and readings by authors, we explore the art and craft of memoir, plunging ever deeper into our own story and ourself—the true source of memoir. This profound journey takes us from a story in our mind, where logic can prevail, to paper, where art and self-discovery can take over.

Inherent in the act of writing is the desire to find an audience. Self-publishing and blogging have become important ways for writers to find readers. Marta Szabo, whose memoir The Guru Looked Good first appeared as a popular blog, discusses her experiences and answers questions about this exciting new avenue.

Fred Poole and Szabo, codirectors of the Authentic Writing Workshops, cofounders of the Woodstock Memoir Festival, and pioneers in the art of writing memoir, are our hosts. With a group of returning and new writers, this year’s festival promises to be as wildly successful as the first.

Nick Flynn is the author of a new book, The Ticking is the Bomb, which comes on the heels of his first stunning memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, winner of a PEN/Martha Albrand Award. (Nick Flynn will not be in attendance Friday evening.) nickflynn.org

Malachy McCourt, an actor, singer and raconteur, is as moving and entertaining in real life as he is in many books, including the best-selling, highly acclaimed memoir, A Monk Swimming.

Susanna Sonnenberg, author of Her Last Death, has published essays in Elle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Parenting. susannasonnenberg.com

Alphie McCourt is the author of A Long Stone’s Throw. The youngest of the famed McCourt brothers, he has written for the Washington Post, The Villager, the Limerick Leader, and Icons magazine.

Darcey Steinke is the author of Easter Everywhere, as well as several novels. Her writing has appeared in Spin, Art Forum, The Guardian magazine, and the Village Voice, and she teaches at Columbia University, the New School, and Goddard College.

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is the author of When Skateboards Will Be Free, as well stories and essays for The Paris Review, Granta, and Open City. sayrafiezadeh.com

Fred Poole is the founder of Authentic Writing and the author of Authentic Writing: A Memoir on Creating Memoir. authenticwriting.com

Marta Szabo is codirector of Authentic Writing and author of the The Guru Looked Good. She writes for the blog, Mostly Memoir, and posts her writing regularly online at Experiments in Memoir. authenticwriting.com

James Kullander is a program developer and editor at Omega, as well as a freelance writer. His acclaimed essay, “My Martial Status,” originally published in The Sun magazine, was anthologized in The Best Buddhist Writing 2008.jameskullander.com