Write the Family Workshops

Write the Family Workshops are designed for older writers interested in preserving their family stories, learning about memoir writing techniques, and creating a lasting legacy for future generations.

These small group interactive workshops provide a supportive creative environment for older adults to share their stories and explore a variety of writing techniques with expert Write the World teachers. The workshops consist of two sessions, meeting on Zoom for one hour per session.

Write the Family workshop content is modular, with many options to customize a memoir writing or family history program for community groups and organizations. Each of the workshops below are available as a stand-alone offering, or as a customized set of writing programs. Contact Write the World about scheduling a workshop for older writers and to learn more about customized programming.

Our Offerings

Telling Your Story: From Memory Maps to Micro-Memoirs

Participants develop Memory Maps to shine a brighter, more literary light on the significant people and places in their past, and learn to tell their stories as creative micro-memoirs.

Bringing Family Stories to Life with Photos, Interviews, and Character Close Ups

Narrating vintage family photos, practicing interview questions, and learning to write memorable profiles of family members combine in this workshop to inspire participants to share and preserve their family stories.

Reaching Into The Future: Time Capsules, Spotlight Letters And Legacy Stories

This workshop explores the power of writing to create a lasting legacy for future generation. Participants create short, powerful messages to share with their loved ones today in the form of spotlight letters and stories.

Partner with Us

Write the World works with partner organizations and communities serving older adults and multigenerational groups of writers to make its family story and memoir writing workshop content available and affordable for all. For more information about scheduling a Write the Family workshop, or collaborating on a customized writing program, please contact:

Mary J Cronin: mary@writetheworld.com

Meet the Write the Family Team

Liza Cochran

Liza Cochran designs and teaches family story workshops for Write the Family™. Liza stewards the education vision at Write the World, working with community members to develop innovative writing programs. A longtime educator and writer, Liza has designed and implemented writing curriculum in high schools, colleges, and community centers across the US, including the Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Emerson College, and Grub Street Writing Center. Since 2015, Liza has served as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where she teaches personal narrative writing with Dr. Nancy Sommers. Liza holds a BA from Brown University, where she studied writing, education, and environmental science, and an MFA from Emerson College, where she studied creative writing. You can find her work in the Colorado Review, Gettysburg Review, and Fifth Wednesday Journal.

Mary J. Cronin

Mary J Cronin is the program and partnership director for Write the Family™, Write the World’s intergenerational family storytelling program, and delighted to be co-teaching the Write the Family workshops with Liza Cochran and Kerry Feltner. Mary’s role at Write the World combines her passion for preserving family stories, sparking creative collaboration across generations, developing new courses, and teaching. Mary earned a PhD at Brown University, an MLS in Library and Information Science at Simmons College, and a BA at Emmanuel College. She taught management and interdisciplinary social impact courses at Boston College for over twenty- five years, and is currently a Boston College Research Professor. She serves as a nonprofit director of the Boston Authors Club and the Encore Boston Network. Mary has authored twelve books on managing digital innovation, internet and wireless business, smart products, and social impact. She enjoys helping aspiring authors crystalize their inspiration into works in progress.

Kerry Feltner

Kerry Feltner is a Writing Studies Program Instructor at Emerson College, Boston, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction. She is also the Senior Multimedia Journalist at the Waltham News Tribune one of the state’s oldest printed newspapers, the latest position in her eight-year writing career in journalism and media. In 2020 and 2021, Kerry taught a course in writing nonfiction and personal narratives for EmersonWRITES, an urban,
creative writing lab that offers free college-style workshops to teens (8-12th grade students) enrolled in a Greater Boston public or charter school. Kerry’s own works of creative nonfiction delve into a range of topics including the aging process, relationships, and the state of local journalism. Her essay, “Methuselah” was published in Trinity College’s New Square Literary Magazine in the fall 2020 issue. She will be sharing her expertise in personal narrative, creative nonfiction, and crafting memorable family interviews and stories in Write the Family™ Workshops.