The Art of Spiritual Memoir with Donna M. Johnson

In partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 

Spiritual memoir seeks to approach the presence of the ineffable in our lives. It’s an imaginative quest that can reshape personal history into art as it pushes toward a greater truth. This class will focus on re-discovering and deepening our personal narratives through the craft of writing. We will explore how the use of time, character, symbol, structure and other elements of creative nonfiction turns memory into story.

Each day will include an hour and a half teaching session to include writing prompts, an hour and a half workshop session, and unstructured time.

Donna Johnson

Workshop facilitator Donna M. Johnson is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, a memoir critically acclaimed by the New York Times, O Magazine, Texas Monthly, Beliefnet, NPR’s Interfaith Voices, People and many other publications and blogs. The book was named to the Oprah.com Memoirs We Love list and took top honors in the Spirituality category at the New York Books for a Better Life Awards. Donna is a Ragdale Fellow and was recently awarded a fellowship to the Lucas Artist Residency in Saratoga, CA.

Donna’s work has been collected in two well-reviewed anthologies, Beyond Belief and Her Texas. She has written about religion, family and culture for the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American Statesman, Psychology Today, Lion’s Roar, Huffington Post, and The Rumpus. She is currently at work on a project that combines investigative journalism with personal narrative.