Workshops and Retreats

Exploring Your Roots

Memoir Writing Workshop

In this six-week memoir-writing class we will read poetry, graphic novels and memoirs by well-known writers including Colette, Marjane Satrapi and Maria Mazziotti Gillan that explore various cultures through the lens of family, foods and tradition. We will then write and share our own memoirs with the aim of exploring our own family heritage. Writer and educator Kristin D’Agostino writes about Italy and her Italian-American roots for Italian America magazine.

Viva Italia! Exploring Your Roots

Memoir Writing Workshops

A six-week memoir-writing workshop focused on embracing Italy and Italian culture. Each two-hour Zoom session will be spent doing writing prompts, sharing our stories and discussing a mix of Italian American essays, poems and memoirs. We will read a mix of well-known writers to inspire our own writing. Weekly writing prompts on travel, family, food and Italian culture will spark our own memoir stories, which we will share with each other and discuss on Zoom.
Note: You do not need to be a “writer” to take this workshop. You only need to have a love for telling stories and a willingness to share and accept positive feedback on our workshop writings. To see some examples of past memoirs that participants wrote, check out this article in the Burlington Free Press.

Viva Italia! Exploring Your Roots Retreat

Join fellow Italian-Americans from across the country for a week’s stay on a working farm in Tuscany. Bask in the restorative beauty of the lush green hills. Enjoy family-style meals at the farm made from fresh ingredients. Tap into your creativity and embrace your heritage through daily memoir-writing workshops centered on the themes of Italian family, food and traditions.
Other daily activities will include Italian language classes, cooking classes and historical lectures on Italian history and culture.

Testimonials

“I loved the class! Realized that so many activities and attitudes and behaviors that I thought were exclusively in my family were actually common in Italian families”

“The writing assignments were great and I wish we could have done more. I liked the feedback and suggestions. I only wish we’d had more time!”

“It was well organized and inspiring and the prompts were great. They got me thinking about and writing about people and places I hadn’t thought about in years, so grazie!”