Being Elders: Life Lessons and Legacies – A Writing & Discussion Workshop

This workshop calls upon the life experiences of elders as a frame of reference for personal growth and reflection. It uses creative non-fiction as a genre to explore, recall, and pass on life lessons we have accumulated over years of thoughtful exploration. Those experiences and reflections tell us a lot about who we are, and where we find ourselves in this stage of our lives.  They also provide an opportunity for us to share accumulated wisdom with others, while at the same time, offering a time to write about our lives and a chance to refine our writing skills, whether we want to write poetry or prose. In addition to verbal prompts, often based on the work of well-known writers, we will use visual prompts (art, photographs) that stimulate new ideas and remembered experiences. Weekly prompts and short readings will be provided for inspiration. Sharing what you have crafted is voluntary, but participants will find the workshop most useful if they choose to respond to prompts and share what they have written in a supportive environment. Come prepared to ruminate, revel, and recognize the writer within you!

This workshop will meet via Zoom on Wednesdays, February 22, March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29.

Instructor:
Elayne Clift, a Vermont Humanities Council Scholar, is an award-winning writer and journalist, a writing workshop leader, and a lecturer. Her work has been widely anthologized and appears in numerous publications internationally. A regular columnist for the Keene Sentinel and the Brattleboro Commons, and a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, she has written for various magazines and periodicals. Her novel, Hester’s Daughters, a contemporary, feminist retelling of The Scarlet Letter, appeared in 2012 and her award-winning short story collection, Children of the Chalet, was published by Braughler Books (2015).  Her latest book is Around the World in 50 Years: Travel Tales of a Not So Innocent Abroad (Braughler Books, 2019).