Library to Host Memoir Writing Workshop

The Tompkins County Public Library will host “Cultivating the Imagination,” a childhood memoir writing workshop facilitated by Michelle Courtney Berry, September 20 from noon to 2 p.m. in the Thaler/Howell Programming Room.

Held in conjunction with the 2012 Community Read of Romain Gary’s “The Life Before Us,” this workshop will encourage participants--through visualization and other fun techniques--to borrow on long-forgotten memories, feelings and experiences to create outstanding memoirs.

Berry, the second Tompkins County Poet Laureate, a Cave Canem Poetry Fellow and the winner of a CAP Award for Fiction, is the author of two books “The Month Without Speaking” and the recently-released “Breathe”.  A business owner, performer, actor and artist, Berry has opened for Maya Angelou, Howard Zinn and The Dalai Lama.

This program is free and open to the public; however, space is limited and pre-registration required.  To register, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.

Participants are asked to bring a device to write on or with, a bagged lunch, a digital voice recorder (if available), a sleeping bag, pillow and flashlight, a favorite passage from a childhood memoir and something that inspires writing and sparks creativity.  They will leave with the tools to create, continue or complete their own memoirs.

“The Life Before Us,” is told by Momo, an orphaned Arab boy and Madame Rosa, the former lady of the night who cares for him and an ever-changing cast of children with the aid of monthly checks she receives from their prostitute mothers.  When the checks stop coming and Madame Rosa’s health begins to fail, the book’s real stories of love, belonging, identity and loss begin to emerge.

Multiple copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library’s collection, courtesy of Cornell University.

For more information about Community Read programming, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.  For more information about the Community Read, or to request free copies of the book for a book group or not-for-profit organization, contact Community Read Coordinator Sarah Glogowski at (607) 272-4557 extension 255 or sglogowski@tcpl.org.