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NJCU to Offer Course on Cross-Generational Memoir Writing on Wednesdays Beginning July 21
JERSEY CITY, N.J. |New Jersey City University (NJCU)’s Division of Professional Education and Lifelong Learning will offer a four-week course entitled “Write the Cross-Generational Memoir,” beginning on Wednesday, July 21.
The virtual course, which will run for four (4) weeks on Wednesdays, July 21 through August 11, 2021 from 6-7:30 p.m., will be taught by Edvige Giunta, NJCU Professor of English and an accomplished author.
The course builds upon Professor Giunta’s successful “Write Your Memoir” course in spring 2021. Participants of this course will learn how to write a cross-generational narrative of their families, utilizing memory, imagination, and research. Lessons in the craft of memoir and in the creation of personal archives will guide writers as they time-travel into the past and evoke and connect with the stories of their ancestors, even when they know little about those stories.
By the end of the workshop, students will have completed a draft of a memoir piece that focuses on one or multiple ancestors and will have a toolbox of writing strategies that will enable them to continue to work independently on their memoir. The course will meet on Zoom and utilize Blackboard activities and resources to support the weekly practice.
Professor Giunta said: “Some ancestors are sweet, vivid childhood memories. They are family gatherings, old stories, and lullabies. Others stare at us from photographs as if waiting to speak. Still others are haunting shapes, often nameless, nestling in the crevices of our memory, insisting we ask them questions—and that we listen for their answers. As a writer of memoir, I have felt drawn to all of them; I have been in awe of the ways we can meet our ancestors on the page, even if we have never met them in person. As a teacher of memoir, I have been privileged to witness individual writers, and communities of writers, engage in the powerful time travel that writing about those who came before us requires. In this course, we will engage in this memory work together.”
For more details about this offering, contact the NJCU PELL office at pell@njcu.edu or visit www.njcu.edu/pell.
The cost of the course is $99. To register, visit: https://secure.touchnet.net/C21117_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=1415&SINGLESTORE=true
About NJCU Professor Edvige Giunta
Edvige Giunta is the author of Writing with an Accent: Contemporary Italian American Women Authors and co-editor of several anthologies, including the forthcoming Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Fire (New Village Press, 2022). Her articles, literary nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in many anthologies and in journals and magazines such as Assay, Creative Nonfiction, Barrow Street, and Mutha Magazine. At NJCU, she has trained scores of students in the art of memoir and is eager to assist you as you write yours.
On social media: https://twitter.com/edigiunta/
About NJCU
New Jersey City University is an institution of higher learning with an audacious goal: the development of our students, our city, our communities, our state, and the world beyond. We are a game-changing force for our students and their families. Whether our students are enrolled in one of our 50 undergraduate, 28 graduate or three doctoral programs, NJCU provides an affordable, diverse environment, and an exceptionally supportive faculty—all of which prepares them to be critical thinkers in a global landscape.
We’re also changing the game for our city, our communities, and our state. As the educational anchor institution in Jersey City, we’ve established partnerships to ensure the area’s growth directly benefits our students and community members. We seek to improve the lives of everyone in the Garden State, whether creating a home for the arts, bringing educational programs to K-12 students, offering bachelor’s degrees in partnership with community colleges, or providing professional development opportunities for adults.
At NJCU, we’re not just educating minds, we’re nourishing souls and lifting communities. We’re changing the game.
Contact:
Ira Thor, Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations | ithor@njcu.edu | 201-200-3301