Self Portraits as Family Albums

This workshop will explore the ways that everyone is influenced by the people and places they’ve come from—all “born with a prologue of references.” Participants will read Siv Cedering’s flash fiction story “Family Album” and Gregory Pardlo’s poem “Written By Himself” and embark on an exploration of family memories and myths. What does family mean? How does it shape us? These works are great vehicles for discussion of point of view, so participants will also talk about perspective in storytelling, and how meanings can shift depending on who’s doing the telling. Participants will do some brainstorming activities about their own histories, and then write their own self- portraits/family albums, in the form of either poems or flash fiction.