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Conference Schedule 2020

Conference Schedule 2020

Friday, February 21, 2020, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

So You Want to Write Nonfiction About Your Family with Andrea Avery

Date(s): Friday, February 21, 2020, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Location: Heritage, University Club (view map)
Type(s): Generative Workshop, Presentation
Genre and Form(s): Creative Nonfiction, Memoir
Tags: Family, Empathy, Point of View, Perspective

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Meet our Faculty

About the Session

Join memoirist, educator, and writer, Andrea Avery in an exploration on the processes in which we write about our own family. As a participant, you will use writing exercises focused on empathy, point of view, and personal truth to tell your family stories from your own perspectives. What happens 'after' a creative nonfiction book about your family comes to life in a public realm? Learn from Avery's own discovery as a writer as she went public with her own version of her family's story via the publication of her memoir, Sonata. This session is geared toward memoirists and writers of creative nonfiction.  

Meet the Presenter(s)

Picture of Andrea Avery


Andrea Avery

Andrea Avery is the author of Sonata: A Memoir of Pain and the Piano, which describes her experiences growing up as an aspiring pianist even after a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis at age 12. Her writing has been published in Ploughshares, Real Simple, The Oxford American, and The Politics of Women’s Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior. She was the winner of Real Simple’s 2010 essay contest and a finalist in Glamour magazine’s essay contest. She holds a BA in music, an MFA in Creative Writing, and a doctorate in education from Arizona State University. She teaches English at Phoenix Country Day School and is an active volunteer with the Arthritis Foundation.


Learn more about Andrea Avery