Instructor: Marek Fuchs
Length: 11 sessions, $660
Fridays, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
No class TBD

Many are tempted into writing memoirs, but few succeed.  If there is a type of writing born to fail, it is the memoir.  Simply put, the workaday details of our own lives do not necessarily resonate with others.  But how do we transform the themes and threads of our private experience into works of writing that will captivate members of the general public?  It is the essential challenge of the writer and though there is more art to it than science - there is a science to it.  We will attempt to achieve that writerly requisite: the ability to mine our own lives for material - but material that can be shaped and eventually woven into narratives that will hold the attention of readers that go beyond our immediate circle of family and friends.  Memoirs often fail.  But writers who are nimble, clever and strategic in leveraging certain experiences into works of larger scope regularly succeed.

Marek Fuchs (BA, Drew University) is the Ellen Kingsley Hirschfeld Chair in Writing at Sarah Lawrence College, where he also serves as Executive Director of The Investigative Journalism and Justice Institute. He was the “County Lines” columnist for The New York Times for six years and also wrote columns for The Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch and Yahoo!. Fuchs wrote "A Cold-Blooded Business," a book called “riveting” by Kirkus Reviews. His most recent book, "Local Heroes," also earned widespread praise, including from ABC News, which called it "elegant…graceful…lively and wonderful."  Fuchs has earned numerous awards and was named the best journalism critic in the nation by Talking Biz Web site at The University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He speaks regularly on business and journalism issues at venues ranging from annual meetings of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers to PBS to National Public Radio.  When not writing or teaching, Fuchs serves as a volunteer firefighter.

Writing Institute Registration Process:

Step 1 - Registration Information: Complete this registration form in full.

Step 2 - Payment: Once you click submit on this form, a new page will appear in your browser with a payment link. Click on the payment link, complete the required information, and submit your payment. 

Payment is required for your registration to be confirmed. If we don’t receive your payment within 48 hours of submission of this form, your registration will automatically be cancelled. You will have to complete the form again if you wish to register for the class.
Step 3 - Confirmation: Once we receive your payment, your registration will be finalized and confirmed with an email. Please keep this email for your records.  Details about room assignment, parking, and any other information relevant to the course will be emailed to registered students the week before classes begin.

If you have questions about the registration process, please call us at 914-395-2205 or email writinginstitute@sarahlawrence.edu.