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Create Compelling Memoir

Did you ever have an experience that you thought would make a good memoir but were not sure how to begin? Or have you started a memoir but have been stopped by narrative challenges?

Join the Willamette Writers Coast Chapter on March 16 from 2-4:30 pm at the Newport Public Library, when Christopher Luna will present a workshop on writing memoir for both the beginner and seasoned writer.

Those who are already writing a memoir will leave with a potential chapter and some ideas about structuring a manuscript as well as process. Those new to memoir will leave with ideas for how to begin.

Luna will introduce the basic concepts and methods for writing memoir including a writing exercise to help participants begin to use their life experiences as the basis for compelling creative non-fiction. Those who are willing will be invited to share the rough draft they created to initiate discussion of how to write and organize a book-length memoir.

Luna will also discuss challenges in writing memoir as they arise such as reactions of family members, research, identifying themes for the book, and whether or not to tell the story chronologically.

This program is co-hosted by the Newport Public Library.

Christopher Luna is a poet, editor, writing coach and teacher who served as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Clark County from 2013-2017. Luna has an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and is the co-founder, with Toni Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He and Morgan Paige co-host the LGBTQ+ friendly, all ages and uncensored Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in Vancouver, WA, founded by Christopher in 2004. Christopher Luna’s books include Voracity (Lightship Press, 2022), Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous (with his son Angelo Luna, The Poetry Box, 2021), Message from the Vessel in a Dream (Flowstone Press, 2018), Brutal Glints of Moonlight, and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978.

The WW Coast Chapter hosts presentations, a mix of in-person and virtual events, from September through June. Willamette Writers, the parent organization of the Coast Chapter, is the largest writer’s association in Oregon and one of the largest in the nation. Programs are free and open to all writers eighteen and up. There are Young Willamette Writer chapters for those under 18. To become a member of a chapter and the parent organization, join Willamette Writers at their website, https://willamettewriters.org.