When Words Collide 2026

Are you trying to write memoir, but it’s just not working for you? Why not give autofiction a chance?


Although memoir is often praised as the genre that can best capture and convey a writer’s personal tale and truth, the process of writing one can feel highly constraining. In turn this workshop looks to autofiction as a more liberating way to tell stories linked to the self. It asks: What is autofiction? How is autofiction different from memoir or creative nonfiction? What personal, political and literary purposes might it serve?


The first half of this workshop consists of an interactive presentation that highlights the strengths and limitations found in some contemporary memoirs, and then it shifts to exploring recent autofiction. As participants are exposed to autofiction, they learn how to: blur the boundary between truth and fiction, subject their biographies to a twist, construct alter egos, re-imagine life events, reconfigure form—and create the most compelling literary, political and philosophical chaos.


In the second half of this workshop, participants will be given specialized prompts along with space to begin to craft their own autofictional slice of life, which they may share with other participants. Generous and insightful feedback from the instructor will also be provided.