Spill Your Guts
Instructor: Leanne Grabel
Week 1: July 30 - August 5, 2023

There is nothing more liberating than telling your personal stories. There are so many impactful events and people in our lives that we will never forget because they changed us, they moved us. Sometimes the movement was forward. Sometimes the movement was backward. But we changed. These are the stories of memoir.

In this workshop, we will look at the work of Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, Maira Kalman, Ellen Forney, Ilene Beckerman, Nora Krug, etc., as well as tips on writing memoir from Mary Carr, Anne Lamott, William Stafford, Charles Bukowski, etc. You will write a series of flash memoirs--short pieces that recount these events and people that formed you. We will look at many examples, review poetic techniques and editing techniques so that your words will be concise and yet able to describe without becoming bogged down in length and complication. In essence, you will be writing prose poetry.

You will also pair your pieces with something visual. This can be a drawing, a painting, a collage, or a photograph. And you will be presenting a piece or two at the end of the week.

Class Material Fee $15
Click here for required class supply list

 About Leanne

Leanne Grabel is a writer, illustrator, teacher and performer in love with mixing genres. Her first collaboration was with a bongo player and sax player in the mid-70s and her most recent collaborations were with filmmaker Penny Allen and dancer/choreographer Gregg Bielemeier. She has written & produced numerous multi-media shows, including “The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression” and “Anger: The Musical.” Grabel's graphic novel, Brontosaurus Illustrated, was published by The Opiate Books in July of 2022. Her book of graphic prose poems My Husband’s Eyebrows was published by The Poetry Box in October 2022. Grabel is the 2020 recipient of the Bread & Roses Award for contributions to women's literature in the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband started and ran Cafe Lena, a poetry hub and restaurant, throughout the 90s. Grabel is a retired special education teacher, the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three.

Learn more on her website:
www.leannegrabel.com