Well, This is Awkward

with T Kira Māhealani Madden
Sunday September 15th, 2024 1PM—4PM Pacific over Zoom
(A recording will be made available to all registrants for a limited period afterwards.)

“When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished,” wrote Polish Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz.

So you’re finally doing it, or you’ve done it—you’ve written about real people in your life, or maybe something ‘loosely inspired’ by the people in your life. Maybe you’ve lost touch with this person. Maybe you see this person every day. Maybe you’re terrified they’ll read it, or that terror is blocking you from writing it true. Now what?

In this class, we’ll talk through, work through, and write through the ethical dilemmas, negotiations, and thrills of rendering real people for your art.

We’ll explore the logistics: do I need to disguise this person? If so, how?

The emotions: Am I remembering this right? Is this really my story to tell? Should I interview the people I’m writing about?

And the philosophical: Am I doing more harm than good? Am I considering other perspectives, and problematizing my own power as a narrator?

Prompts will be provided. Questions will be asked. As your facilitator, I can promise I have no answers, but anecdotal experiences; I will candidly share some great joys and regrets from my own memoir publishing experience, and some ethical tools I continue to hold close, moving forward. This class will be mostly geared toward memoir, but all writers exploring these great big questions are welcome. Let’s figure this out together.

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Pricing:

The following payment model is inspired by and borrowed from the payment model of Bayo Akomolafe’s class, We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks.

This workshop offers a sliding scale based on your relative financial standing. In an effort to reflect disparity in economic condition and access to wealth, the following payment system is designed for those with more wealth to help cover the costs of those with less access to wealth and resources. We trust your discernment of your current financial situation and how you fit into the global economic context.

As you decide what amount to pay, please consider your present-day financial situation governed by income, but also the following factors: historical discrimination faced by your peoples; your financial wealth (retirement/savings/investments); your access to income and financial wealth, both current and anticipated (how easily could you earn more income compared to other people in your community, country, and the world; are you expecting an inheritance); people counting on your financial livelihood including dependents and community members; the socio-economic conditions of your locale (relative to other places in your country and in the world); your relationship to food & resource scarcity.

$275 Partner

$225 Supporter (Note: This amount reflects the “real” value of this course.)

$175 Companion

$150 Friend

Scholarships are also still available for anyone needing further financial assistance. Please email Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com for more info, or if you are feeling challenged in any way by the financial requirements of participation.

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T Kira Māhealani Madden is a Kanaka 'ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) writer, photographer, and amateur magician. She is the Founding Editor of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Hedgebrook, Tin House, DISQUIET, NYSCA/NYFA, and Yaddo. Her debut memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award for lesbian memoir. Her debut novel, Whidbey, is forthcoming with Mariner, HarperCollins. Winner of the 2021 Judith A. Markowitz Award, she teaches at Mount Holyoke College, and currently serves as Distinguished Writer in Residence at University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.