Lit Fest - Lighthouse Writers Workshop 2026

Memoir and personal essay may seem far removed from the world of Google Scholar, articles with citations, surveys, news databases, historical archives, theoretical texts, and other resources frequently used by academic researchers. As a memoirist and essayist who also just published a scholarly book, I’ll lead you through a diverse toolbox of research resources, as well as discuss ways that epistemology can add depth, surprise, and gravitas to your personal writing. Research often illuminates the "So What?" of a memoir. You'll also get some practical, judgement-free advice on generative AI and chatbots, and how they can help, hurt, expand, and /or limit your research process. We'll embark on a research journey to add a new dimension to your work-in-progress by the end of this workshop.

A deep dive into how to shape characters and their conflicts on the page. In this two-hour seminar, we’ll look at relationships between the self and other characters, as well as the types of conflicts to consider in your nonfiction work or memoir.

Do you dream of a book of essays, but need help finding a shape to cradle your vision? In this workshop, we’ll break out of linear thinking and into the many dimensions that can hold a book—from conception to publication. We’ll discuss themes, portals, organizational tools, and story-holding shapes (many from nature, such as the orbweaver’s spider web, which lent structure to my book). Come to class with two or more essays, and together we’ll investigate how your themes are talking to each other and could further arc outward. The emphasis of this workshop will be on individual vision building and generative feedback. Prose writers of any genre are welcome, as the shape-finding techniques can be applied to many projects. Come to class with fragments and leave with a book vision that has touchable dimensions!

Essayists, memoirists, and writers of hybrid nonfiction have long navigated the line between emotional truth and factual truth in search of meaning. In this hands-on, discussion-driven craft seminar, we’ll clarify the distinction between invention, lying, and the use of imagination and speculation as instruments of discovery. We’ll explore practical strategies for making our work deeper and more complex through “perhapsing” and other techniques.

In this seminar, we'll explore the challenges of telling true crime stories: from capturing the essence of the cases to managing ethical sensitivity. To understand how masters do it, we will read David Carr, Marcela Turati, Truman Capote, Emmanuel Carrère, Óscar Martínez and others. We'll learn from their techniques on research, structure, and writing.

A seminar for writers, journalists, and true crime enthusiasts. A combination of theory, practice, and discussion under one goal: storytelling with impact, respect for the victims, and writing with precision.

What does it mean to tell the story of a body that has been misunderstood, dismissed, or translated through the language of medicine? In this class, writers living with chronic illness and/or disability will workshop up to 1200 words of a personal essay, a poem, a short story, or a chapter from a longer work-in-progress, with an emphasis on shaping narrative, refining voice, and sustaining momentum toward completion. Through close reading, discussion, and first-blush feedback, we’ll explore how specificity—writing from deep within a lived experience—can illuminate the universal. All work will be read out loud in class for discussion. No reading required ahead of time. Open to writers of all genres and levels.