RSVP for Small Memoirs: Make it Lyric

media release: 

Small Memoirs: Make it Lyric with Cynthia Marie Hoffman

590 Water St, Prairie du Sac, WI 53578

Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 11-1p | Deadline to register: October 22, 2025

$50

What to bring: Something to write with and on (computer and/or or paper), scissors optional.

Level: No prior experience necessary. This class is appropriate for writers of any level, whether you identify as a poet or a prose writer, or somewhere in between!

Ages 18+

To register: https://www.riverartsinc.org/memoirs-cynthia/

We’re often too close to our own stories, and that can make us feel constrained to narrative. But astraightforward, linear approach to storytelling can keep us from revealing the beauty and mystery in our lives. Sometimes we need to take a step back and make our own stories strange to ourselves. And one of the best ways to do that is to study the prose poem—a hybrid form that combines the best of poetry and prose. We’ll each draft a brief paragraph about a personal memory and then experiment with defamiliarization techniques to reveal surprising and fresh approaches to shake up your narrative. Together, we’ll consider the importance of creating tension between content and form. We’ll understand why short-form memoir (flash, prose poetry) is such a good fit for a more lyric style of storytelling. We’ll take what poets know about lyricism and apply that knowledge to our small memoir pieces. This class is appropriate for writers of any level, whether you identify as a poet or a prose writer, or somewhere in-between! You’ll leave this class having created a lyric rendering of a narrative or moment from your life. And you’ll leave with generative revision tools that you can use again and again on any piece of writing that needs a little help in shaking free from linear storytelling. Come ready to read, write, and play! 

Arist Bio: Cynthia Marie Hoffman is the author of four books, most recently the OCD memoir in prosepoems Exploding Head (2024), as well as three previous collections of poetry based on travel, historicalresearch on birth and medicine, and family genealogy. Essays have appeared in TIME, The Sun, and LitHub. Poems have appeared in Electric Literature, The Believer, and The Los Angeles Review. The recipient of fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board, Cynthia lives in Madison, WI. To learn more or read her work, visitwww.cynthiamariehoffman.com.