Family Stories Writing Workshops

Families and their stories are messy, tragic, comic and unique. Writing them down can be illuminating, comforting and healing, even if you opt never to share them with anyone else. Or you may be inspired to create a record in one form or another that your present and future family members will treasure.

Putting together a family history from boxes full of ephemera and a head full of jumbled memories can feel daunting. But the beauty is, you can start anywhere. Captioning photos is a great first step, before the stories of the people in the pictures are forgotten.

In this workshop, writer Mary Fairhurst Breen will guide you with simple prompts to start writing your family story, one anecdote at a time. You will take away a few completed mini stories. You might go home and write some more. You might want to pursue a bigger project, like a photo story book, digital recording, or even a memoir. 

The workshop can be adapted for groups of different sizes and offered in person or virtually for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. It can also be designed as a series.