Beginning Memoir:
Shaping Your Life Into Story
A six-month program of memories, meaning, and craft
Facilitated by Debra Engle
Alternating Tuesdays, March 31 – September 15, 2026
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific)
Enduring memoirs combine excellent storytelling with purpose and perspective. More than a collection of memories, they reveal meaning in the life you've lived. And at their best, they illuminate something universal, giving your readers hope, understanding, or inspiration.
In this six-month intensive, you'll learn the essential structure and framework of memoir while developing your own work in a supportive, encouraging community. Whether you're just beginning or have already started, this course will help you find the heart of your story and begin shaping it into a compelling narrative.
Together, we'll move beyond memoir as a collection of events, revealing why those events matter, and what your life story is truly about.
Faculty
Deb is the Executive Director of Story Summit and the #1 bestselling author of The Only Little Prayer You Need, featuring a foreword by the Dalai Lama. In addition, she’s written three other books of nonfiction and a novel, Twenty, and is a two-time winner of the Nautilus Award, honoring better books for a better world.
Deb's newest book, The Writer's Miracle Method, is a month-long program addressing thirty of the most common fears that keep writers stuck.
Deb holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She has worked as the Creative Manager for The Des Moines Register; feature writer and book and magazine editor for Meredith Publishing; publications project manager for Fortune 500 companies; and owner of her own editing and mentoring company.
Guest Memoirists
At Story Summit, we are honoured to bring together four extraordinary memoirists whose work illuminates the many paths of becoming. In Artist, Jocelyn Jones invites us to awaken the creative spirit within. In Wander, Ryan Benz walks us through the courage it takes to leave behind a life that no longer fits in search of deeper meaning. In The Honey Bus, Meredith May reveals the quiet, restorative wisdom of nature as a guide through loss and healing. And in The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande gives voice to the lived experience of separation, resilience, and the enduring search.
Together, these writers offer more than memoir—they offer a map: from awakening, to departure, to healing, to homecoming.
Jocelyn Jones is the author of Artist: Awakening the Spirit Within, a visionary memoir that blends personal storytelling with a practical path toward creative and spiritual awakening.
A lifelong artist raised in a vibrant creative community along the Hudson River, Jones grew up surrounded by actors, writers, and painters—an upbringing that shaped her deep understanding of the artistic psyche and the inner life required to sustain it.
Over the past three decades, she has become a renowned acting teacher and creative mentor, guiding everyone from emerging artists to established performers toward greater authenticity, confidence, and creative freedom.
In Artist, Jones turns inward, offering a hybrid memoir and guidebook that explores her own journey through isolation, self-discovery, and ultimately, connection to what she calls the “Artist within”—a deeper intelligence capable of shaping both art and life. The book has been praised as “a visionary hybrid of memoir and self-help” and a “practical and uplifting guide to living a creative life.”
Her work speaks to writers, performers, and seekers alike—anyone called to create not just from skill, but from soul.
Ryan Benz is the author of Wander: A Memoir of Letting Go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life, a deeply personal account of transformation, presence, and the courage to step away from a life that no longer feels true.
After building a successful, outwardly enviable life, Benz found himself facing burnout, anxiety, and a growing sense of disconnection—an inner fracture that ultimately led him to leave it all behind and walk the length of the Appalachian Trail.
In Wander, he chronicles that 2,000-mile journey not as an escape, but as a return—to clarity, to purpose, and to the quieter truths that emerge when distraction falls away. Told with honesty, humour, and hard-won insight, the memoir blends adventure with introspection, offering readers a path toward living a life that feels meaningful rather than merely impressive.
Now a speaker and guide for those navigating their own turning points, Benz writes for anyone standing at the edge of change—reminding us that sometimes the only way forward is to walk through your past, and begin fresh.
Meredith May is the author of The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and a Girl Saved by Bees, an international bestselling memoir that transforms a difficult childhood into a luminous story of healing through nature.
A former award-winning journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, May spent more than a decade reporting on the human condition—work that earned her numerous honours, including the PEN USA Literary Award for Journalism and a Pulitzer Prize shortlist.
In The Honey Bus, she turns her lens inward, recounting how her grandfather—a beekeeper in Big Sur—became her unexpected guide through chaos, teaching her life’s deepest lessons through the intricate, ordered world of honeybees. The memoir weaves together personal narrative, natural science, and quiet wisdom, revealing how even in the midst of hardship, there are systems of care and meaning waiting to be discovered.
A fifth-generation beekeeper herself, May brings a rare authority to her storytelling—writing not only from memory, but from lived practice. Her work speaks to writers and seekers alike, offering a reminder that the path to understanding often lies not in escape, but in paying closer attention to the life already around us.
Reyna Grande is the author of The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist memoir that has become a defining work of contemporary American writing—giving voice to the emotional realities of immigration, family separation, and the search for belonging.
An American Book Award–winning author, Grande writes from lived experience, transforming memory into narrative with clarity, restraint, and deep emotional power.
In The Distance Between Us, she renders the story of a childhood shaped by distance—not only between countries, but between parents and children, language and identity, longing and survival.
Her work moves beyond the political into the profoundly human, illuminating what it means to come of age between worlds—and what it takes to claim a voice of one’s own within that divide.
Grande writes for those who have known separation in any form, reminding us that memoir is not only an act of remembrance, but an act of reclamation.
Teaching Assistant
Lyssa is a long time student of Debra Engle and Story Summit. Her memoir took shape in Deb’s small-group coaching class and Lyssa looks forward to helping this class to shape theirs. She’s a contributing co-editor of the anthology We See You, We Hear You and has published multiple short stories. Her latest, Honolulu, is forthcoming in Summer in the City (Ruadán Books, 2026). Lyssa publishes a Substack column called …Even when it hurts, where she explores deeper issues.
What You'll Receive:
In this course, you will learn how to:
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Discover the central theme or question of your memoir
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Shape memories into vivid, engaging scenes
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Balance storytelling with reflection and insight
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Understand structure and narrative arc in memoir
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Portray real people with honesty and compassion
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Write about difficult experiences with care and integrity
You'll also gain clarity about your voice, your purpose as a writer, and the deeper meaning beneath the experiences you’re drawn to explore.
We'll meet every other week for two-hour live Zoom sessions, which will include teaching, discussion, handouts, and opportunities to share work and receive feedback.
On alternate weeks, students will meet in small groups to share pages, offer constructive feedback and encouragement, and stay accountable to their writing goals. Story Summit small groups are known for their warmth, generosity, and supportive spirit, and they often become one of the most meaningful parts of the experience.
Throughout the six months:
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Guest instructors will join us for special sessions on selected aspects of memoir craft and the writing life.
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You'll receive writing assignments with each large-group session, along with weekly writing prompts to provide momentum and focus.
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We'll read and discuss selections from outstanding memoirs, including Educated, All the Way to the River, The Many Lives of Mama Love, Memorial Days, and You Could Make This Place Beautiful.
Students who would like more individualized guidance may upgrade to one-on-one coaching sessions for an additional fee.
Enrollment will be limited to 40 students to ensure a supportive, engaged learning environment.
How You'll Receive Feedback
Writers grow through thoughtful, encouraging feedback, and we'll approach this in several ways:
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Instructor guidance during discussion sessions and exercises
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Small-group feedback using structured response methods
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Three "ask anything" one-hour sessions outside of class in April, June, and August
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Occasional group workshops and craft demonstrations
Our goal is not to overwhelm you with criticism, but to help you see more clearly what is already working and where your story can be deepened.
Required Reading
We'll draw lessons from several widely admired memoirs, including:
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Educated by Tara Westover
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All the Way to the River by Liz Gilbert
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Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
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The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin
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You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
Reading assignments will be manageable and focused on craft elements we're studying together.
SPACE IS LIMITED! ENROLL TODAY.
How The Program Unfolds
Month 1 – Foundations
What Is Memoir Really About?
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Memoir vs. autobiography
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Writing from meaning, not chronology
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Discovering the deeper “why” of your story
Finding Your Throughline
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Theme and emotional arc
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The question beneath the story
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Identifying your "container"
Month 2 – Building the Story
Writing Vivid Scenes
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Scene vs. summary
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Sticky details and emotional truth
Voice and Point of View
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The narrator vs. the younger self
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Reflection as a craft tool
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Researching the past
Month 3 – Structure
Shaping the Narrative
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Beginning, middle, and transcendence
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Working with timelines and structure
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Exploring prescriptive memoir
Character in Memoir
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Portraying real people with compassion and honesty
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Ethical considerations
Month 4 – Meaning and Depth
Writing About Difficult Experiences
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Emotional safety and boundaries
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Writing with honesty but not harm
Reflection and Insight
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Moving from story to meaning
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Understanding your A and B stories
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Helping the reader connect to universal themes
Month 5 – Craft and Revision
Revision as Discovery
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Seeing what the story is really about
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Reshaping and refining
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Deciding what to include and what to leave out
Openings and Endings
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Revisiting your introduction
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Crafting compelling beginnings
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Writing satisfying and resonant endings
Month 6 – Moving Forward
Shaping a Book-Length Memoir
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Organizing chapters
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Next steps for continuing the work
Celebration and Readings
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Sharing excerpts
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Reflection on the journey
Beginning Memoir Program Session Dates
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March 31
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Apr 14, 28
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May 12, 26
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June 9, 23
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July 7, 21
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August 4, 18
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September 1, 15
Who this program is for
This course is ideal for:
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Beginning memoir writers
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Writers who feel called to tell a personal story but don’t know where to start
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Writers who have begun but need structure and support to continue shaping their story
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Writers who are looking for accountability and deadlines to build momentum
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Anyone who believes that our stories matter—and that writing them can bring clarity, healing, and connection
Everyone has a story worth telling.
This is your moment to begin.
“I couldn’t have started or finished my memoir without Debra Landwehr Engle. She helped me sort through the bigger picture of my story and shape it into a book.”
Deborah Svec-Carstens, author of Toward the Light: A Year in Paris
“I’m rounding third base and heading for home with my memoir, and I truly couldn’t have gotten this far without Debra Landwehr Engle’s guidance. With her support, I’ve started pitching my memoir to agents and have already received requests for my book proposal and sample chapters.”
—Donna Stevens Kehl, author of Seven Stitches in Neverland
“Debra Landwehr Engle’s guidance strengthened my narrative, clarified my voice, and elevated the entire manuscript.”
Julie Ryan McGue, author of Twice the Family, A Memoir of Love, Loss and Sisterhood
What Past Memoir Writers Are Saying
Register Now!
Join us for an enlightening six-month program into the heart of memoir.
Non-Member Price: $1,997
Exclusive Member Price: $1,597 (20% off)
Includes:
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13 instructional big group sessions (March—September 2026)
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12 peer-group sessions with 4–5 fellow writers
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Three one-hour "ask anything" sessions in April, June, and August
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Community support and wrap celebration
Get Ready to Write Your Story
Enrollment is limited to ensure every writer receives personal attention. Don’t wait—now is your time!
Story Summit Members receive a 20% discount for this six-month program. Just register and the discount will be applied automatically. Not a subscriber yet? Join here.
Please note: Our sessions are designed specifically for live participation, so your attendance is important. If you need to miss a session for any reason, you’ll receive a passcode-protected link to watch the recordings after the course is over.
Cancellation and Refund Policy
A full cash refund will be made (less processing fees of 7.5%) if you notify us at least two weeks before the start of the entire series. If less than two weeks, the refund can be applied as a credit for another future class. This applies to all payment methods, including payment plans.
Due to the commitment required for the Six Month-Long Program, no refunds will be made after the program starts. The only exception is for family or medical circumstances that make it impossible to continue. In that event, you will be refunded a pro-rated amount, based on the number of big group sessions taken. A 7.5% transaction fee will also apply to the amount due to you.
If a student violates the trust or privacy outlined in the Virtuous Circle, Story Summit reserves the right to dismiss that student from the program and provide a refund pro-rated based on the number of big group sessions taken. There will be no transaction fee refund.
Please note that all refunds are processed within a 30-day window.
