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Register for this event here (6:30 CDT/7:30 EST)

In this generative seminar, writers will learn strategies for writing nonfiction stories on family: research and reporting, ideation, pacing, narration, organization, voice and tone, and creating an ensemble of "characters" who are specific to our origin stories but recognizable to any reader. We’ll break down family memoirs into the who, where, and when, making the unwieldy task of writing about those we know more manageable.

This two-hour course, perfect for writers with all levels of experience, will include three in-class prompts that build on each other, a PDF handout with text and illustrations, and a short listening exercise and reading from the instructor and author of Monsoon Mansion, a family memoir on love, loss, and survival, described by Susan Tekulve as "a woven family tale that is both delicate and electric."

Class meetings will be held over video chat, using Zoom accessed from your private class page. While you can use Zoom from your browser, we recommend downloading the desktop client so you have access to all platform features.

Check out this page for details about payment plans and discount opportunities.  

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

- A deeper understanding of how to effectively write about family

- Prompts, exercises, and handouts students can use to generate new essays or longform projects

- 10% discount on all future Catapult classes

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

Students in this class will not submit their writing for feedback from the instructor or their classmates. The reading assignment is optional. Students should use pen and paper/notebook for the three in-class exercises, and must be able to view a shared slide presentation for the duration of the class. All class exercises can be taken home as templates for future brainstorms, writing, editing, etc.

Register here.

"Drawing helps us to really see." - Flannery O'Connor

If you need to add structure to your writing practice or writing work, need help turning an image into a scene or a scene into a story, can hear a character's voice in your head but can't see them in the context of their story, or just feel jaded by old revision techniques, then this class is for you!

In this course, we will borrow techniques and tools from the visual arts. While outlines might seem constricting or old-fashioned or uninspiring, instructor Cinelle Barnes will lead the class in using outlines, illustration, and other visual tools to add focus, depth, form, structure, and texture to prose. Plus, drawing is just plain fun! Your writing practice can always use more playfulness and joy!

No artistic skill necessary, if you can draw a triangle, a square, a circle, some arrows, spirals, and stick figures, you’ll be able to use these methods.

Inspired by Flannery O'Connor and other writer-artists, this five-hour class will be very visual and generative. You will watch Cinelle do five live, on-camera, from-scratch visual renderings of fiction and nonfiction projects. Each of the five techniques will be focused on birthing new ideas, problem solving and untangling thoughts, and expanding an image or scene into a story:

The five "techniques" are:

- Outlining an inciting incident

- Outlining a fragmented essay or short story using repetition, illustration, and index cards

- Outlining a main character's emotional arc

- Outlining an ensemble's or supporting characters' intersecting arcs

- Outlining scene vs summary using geometric shapes

You will need paper and pens or pencils, or a drawing tablet, to successfully participate in this class. You will get a chance to practice each of the five techniques. Be prepared to revise old work and ideate new ones.

Class meetings will be held over video chat, using Zoom accessed from your private class page. While you can use Zoom from your browser, we recommend downloading the desktop client so you have access to all platform features. The Zoom calls will have automated transcription enabled. Please let us know (classes@catapult.co) if you have any questions or concerns about accessibility.

Register here.

From Frederick Douglass and the abolitionists of the 19th century to James Baldwin, the power of the written word has always played a critical role in the pursuit of social progress. Inspired by the exhibition, Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice, and in partnership with local, woman-owned bookstore Itinerate Literate, we’ll discuss the historical influence of written discourse on social justice movements.

This event with not be held at the Gibbes Museum, but in Park Circle at a city-owned gallery across from Itinerant Literate book store, 4820 Jenkins Avenue.

$20 Members | $30 Non-Members | $10 Students/Faculty with Valid ID

*A 3% credit card fee will apply

with Rev. Dr. Byron Benton of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church and the author Issac Bailey

More info and tickets here. Use code MIGHTY22 for $10 off tickets.

In this generative workshop, participants will learn strategies for writing nonfiction stories on family: research and reporting, ideation, pacing, narration, organization, voice and tone, and creating an ensemble of "characters" who are specific to our origin stories but recognizable to any reader. We’ll break down family memoirs into the who, where, and when, making the unwieldy task of writing about those we know more manageable.

Led by memoirist, essayist, and editor Cinelle Barnes, this two-hour class for writers at all levels of experience will include three in-class prompts that build on each other, a PDF handout with text and illustrations, and a short listening exercise and reading from Monsoon Mansion, the instructor's family memoir on love, loss, and survival, described by Susan Tekulve as "a woven family tale that is both delicate and electric."

As a value-added bonus for the first five writers to register, the instructor will also offer to critique their short "elevator pitches" for their family stories-in-progress during the workshop.

This workshop will be held as an online video conference call through Zoom. Details for joining the video call will be provided to all participating writers after registering.

SCHOLARSHIPS: Two need-based scholarships are available. To apply, please complete the form linked here by October 5. Scholarship awardees will be notified by October 12.

In this generative seminar, writers will learn strategies for writing nonfiction stories on family: research and reporting, ideation, pacing, narration, organization, voice and tone, and creating an ensemble of "characters" who are specific to our origin stories but recognizable to any reader. We’ll break down family memoirs into the who, where, and when, making the unwieldy task of writing about those we know more manageable.

This two-hour course, perfect for writers with all levels of experience, will include three in-class prompts that build on each other, a PDF handout with text and illustrations, and a short listening exercise and reading from the instructor and author of Monsoon Mansion, a family memoir on love, loss, and survival, described by Susan Tekulve as "a woven family tale that is both delicate and electric."

Register here

There is great beauty in essay collections. There is also a ton of madness. How do you thread together seemingly disparate pieces and the multitude of techniques, formats, ideas, and even voices within you in one essay collection? Can there be diversity and yet unity in a collection of nonfiction work? In this class, we'll share methods for setting scope, organizing ideas, pitching collections, and playing with form—proposing parameters and practices that activate the energy and freedom that the essay offers.

Only 23 spots open.

Register for this virtual class through Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

Matriculated students and faculty only.

Private event

In this generative seminar, writers will learn strategies for writing nonfiction stories on family: research and reporting, ideation, pacing, narration, organization, voice and tone, and creating an ensemble of "characters" who are specific to our origin stories but recognizable to any reader. We’ll break down family memoirs into the who, where, and when, making the unwieldy task of writing about those we know more manageable. 

This two-hour course, perfect for writers with all levels of experience, will include three in-class prompts that build on each other, a PDF handout with text and illustrations, and a short listening exercise and reading from the instructor and author of Monsoon Mansion, a family memoir on love, loss, and survival, described by Susan Tekulve as "a woven family tale that is both delicate and electric."

Register at Catapult.co

Friday, September 3, 2021
7:00pm
Anna Qu on Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor with Cinelle Barnes
Register: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/anna-qu-on-made-in-china

For BFA/MFA students at the program only

Amirah Kinlaw and Cinelle Barnes invite BIPOC women for a sunset yoga and narrative practice on August 8 (new date) — summer solstice. The event will take place at Sullivan’s Island, Station 29, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

About Amirah’s yoga practice:

My name is Amirah Kinlaw (she/her) and I am pleased to be your yoga instructor. I am a warm, spirited Black woman. I live in Charleston, SC, on Kusso land, with my partner of 11 years and our two energetic teens, ages 16 and 14. I initially found yoga to be a relaxing stretch exercise to do post-workout, but over time, my connection with the practice became deeper. My yoga now is designed to encompass all parts of me. It is an embodied experience. I have been practicing for over four years and recently became a yoga instructor in April 2020. I love connecting with women of color because we actually see one another as whole beings. Each of us holds our own unique story which portrays our power, our resilience, our passion, and our own frequency. When our frequencies connect, our vibration is higher. My intention for the Summer Solstice Workshop for BIPOC women will be to restore and refresh our bodies, minds, and souls, so that we can show up for ourselves and for each other.

About Cinelle’s narrative workshop:

Cinelle is a Philippine-born and -raised writer, editor, and educator. She is the author of two nonfiction books and the editor of a New York Times New & Noteworthy anthology of essays written by BIPOC writers. Drawing from narrative therapy philosophy, memoir, and breath work, Cinelle will guide the group in a regenerative, joyful writing exercise that women of color can incorporate into their daily rituals, writing craft, or yoga practices. This workshop is an evolution of Poses & Prose, Cinelle’s sold-out series with Charleston Community Yoga.

Rsvp here. Suggested offering of $25*. Scholarships available.

Join Lexington County Library for an evening book discussion with memoirist, essayist, and editor Cinelle Barnes.

From the Facebook event listing:
Armed with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Converse College, Cinelle Barnes is an essayist, memoirist and educator from Manila, Philippines. With her searing prose, she writes of the experience of being a person of color in the Deep South, Asian-American diaspora, and what our pasts can tell us about ourselves. Her memoir Monsoon Mansion details her coming-of-age in Mansion Royale before a fateful monsoon changes everything. Malaya and A Measure of Belonging feature essays from Barnes and other writers of color on the New American South. Her heartfelt, lyrical style makes Barnes a must-read for anyone looking to explore the depths of the Southern person of color experience.

Register here.

Mapping Home (Two sessions)

Through this hands-on exercise, we will practice visualization, activate research, and utilize studio art techniques and theory to generate memoir story ideas that have a strong sense of place, identity, and attitude. Speaking from her experience of writing a lyric memoir about her childhood home, Cinelle Barnes will guide the group in crafting place-based personal narrative.

Writing Family Stories (One session)

To whom does a family narrative belong? How do we write ancestral or familial narratives if there are gaps in memory and documented history? Does responsibility to self and to history outweigh responsibility to family? These are just some of the questions we will discuss and address through ideation, writing, and editing exercises.

Nonfiction panel to follow

Join Latria Graham and Cinelle Barnes on Tuesday, April 27, 6:30 pm for a discussion on Southern literature, BIPOC voices, and the local book scene in South Carolina. Hosted by Buxton Books and Up to Us book club. Tickets available through Eventbrite. Click on image below to save your virtual seat. Signed copies of A Measure of Belonging available through Buxton Books.