3 Sessions: Thursdays, February 6, 13, 20
6:00-7:00pm ET
Lindy West

Lindy West is an author, screenwriter, comedian, and podcaster who has worked in the personal essay space for nearly 20 years. After establishing herself as an alt-weekly film critic, blogger, and opinion columnist, Lindy's first memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted as a half-hour comedy on Hulu starring Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant. Lindy subsequently released two books of humorous cultural criticism (The Witches Are Coming and Shit, Actually), and is currently at work on a second memoir, Adult Braces, about the solo cross-country road trip that saved her marriage and her sanity.

They say comedy is tragedy plus time, but how much time does it really take? Lindy West's work manages to find cathartic lightness, absurdity, and even silliness in the darkest moments of life -- her father's death, her unregretted but lonely abortion, her lifelong isolation and depression -- without sacrificing gravity. Women really can have it all!

Humor is a queen among coping mechanisms, an engine of survival and connection. In this deep dive into the craft of the funny memoir, Lindy West will lead participants through her process of deciding which stories to write and why, how to tell the brutal truth without alienating your audience, and how to protect your heart when you're offering it up for comedy.

Workshop Highlights:

• Generating Memoir: learn how to be generous with yourself, what to share vs what to protect, the power in true vulnerability

• Editing Memoir: learn how to be strict with yourself, what's serving the work vs what's serving your ego, how to let go and kill your darlings

• Nuts and Bolts: ask Lindy anything about the business of publishing, her experience adapting her work for television, her cure for writer's block, etc.
  

To apply for a scholarship, please fill out this form by Thursday, January 30.