OCT
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Fatimah Asghar And Hieu Minh Nguyen On Daughter Of The Mountains
Writing the Body in Memoir: How to Work with What Our Bodies Know
November 12, 2026 at Local Economy in Oakland, CA
Local Economy, Oakland, California
Even when they aren't the center of the story, our bodies are an essential, inescapable part of any memoir. There is no life experience from which to write unless there is a body moving through the world, collecting memories, and translating them to the page.
Savala Nolan, author of Good Woman: A Reckoning and Don't Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Body, leads this writing workshop.
How do we draw from and contend with the body in order to craft memoir that is honest, fresh, and potent? What can our bodies tell us that our minds cannot? What if we don't like our bodies, or live in a society that doesn't like our bodies--how do we work with that? This talk will include concrete ways to approach these questions, examples of embodied writing from a diverse selection of celebrated authors, and a skills-building exercise to put the pieces together.
Remember to bring a pen and notebook or laptop, whatever your preferred writing implement is.
Date:
November 12, 2026
Time:
6:00 PM
8:00 PM
Event website: https://luma.com/local-iobg
Event type:
Workshops and Education
Originally posted to:
Rockridge District Association Events Calendar
Local Economy is a small, flexible community space on the College Avenue stretch of Rockridge, a few doors from East Bay Booksellers. It looks and feels like a bright neighborhood storefront set up for people to gather rather than a traditional venue. Inside, most things are organized around a long central table where talks, workshops, book clubs and game sessions all happen in close quarters. more...
