A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 17, 2025

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Start in the Middle: Writing Memoir Now

Date: May 17, 2025

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Location:Adult / Teen Tent

Class Size: n/a

Audience: Adults & Teens

Description

Great memoirs center not just on what happened, but how the events being shared changed the narrator’s point of view in essential ways. You don’t have to start at the beginning to do that. In fact, sometimes it’s helpful not to. In this generative workshop, author Seema Reza will guide you through several writing prompts that help mine your current experiences – often the freshest – to discover connections to past stories you’re trying to tell. Whether you’re writing a memoir, considering it or new to the genre, this workshop is for you.

Seema Reza

Seema Reza

Seema Reza is a writer, performer, and the author of “When the World Breaks Open” and “A Constellation of Half-Lives.” Based in Maryland, she is the CEO and founder of Community Building Art Works, an organization that encourages the use of the arts as a tool for narration, self-care and socialization among a military population struggling with emotional and physical injuries. Her writing has been widely anthologized and has appeared in The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, The LA Review and LitHub among others.