CLARKSVILLE, TN – The Clarksville Arts and Heritage Council will offer a two-day intensive workshop on memoir writing led by award-winning memoirist and writing coach Kelly J. Beard.
Whether participants are crafting a public memoir or a private gift to children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, Beard will offer tips, pathways, advice and encouragement for participants to tell their unique stories.
Participants can expect information on crafting a compelling story, tips on persevering and completing a manuscript, discussion and helpful critiques of their own work, and analysis of memoirs that told stories with humor, drama, and elegance.
Kelly Beard is an award-winning Georgia-based author, essayist, and former attorney known for her critically acclaimed memoir, An Imperfect Rapture. Named the 2019 Georgia Author of the Year for Memoir, her work explores themes of family faith, addiction, poverty, suicide, and the American South, blending personal experience with lyrical prose.
An Imperfect Rapture won the 2019 Georgia Author of the Year Award for Memoir and was a Zone 3 Press Creative Nonfiction Book Award winner. Her personal essays have been published in Ruminate, Creative Nonfiction, Santa Ana River Review, Five Points, and Bacopa Literary Review. Critics have described her writing as insightful, courageous, and luminous, often incorporating themes of resilience.
She earned an MFA in Creative Writing in 2016 from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has worked with the Reinhardt University Creative Writing MFA program.
Beard came to creative writing after decades of working as an employment discrimination lawyer, during which time she received multiple awards for her legal and community service, including being named a “Super Lawyer,” a “Star of Atlanta,” and one of the nation’s “Preeminent Female Lawyers.” Her work assisting victims of domestic violence earned her a Certificate of Recognition from the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Customs House Museum and Cultural Center has reserved a room for the workshop to meet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 19, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 20. Fees are $100 for Arts and Heritage members and $125 for non-members.
To register, go to the Arts and Heritage website: https://www.artsandheritage.us/memoir-writing-workshop-with-kelly-j-beard-to-be-held-june-19-and-20/.