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Black Women Writing Memoir

You want to write the story of your life. I’ll show you how.

From Sojourner Truth to Maya Angelou Black women have a long tradition of writing about their lives as a form of witness. Today Black women are writing their way into artistry, creativity, and wisdom as they explore and recreate the meaning of the lives they have lived. Are you ready to be part of that tradition? 

This workshop for Black Women Writing Memoirs will provide you with a safe and nurturing space to write your life story.

Hi Marita,

Black Women Writing Memoir

October 2024 to March 2025

(Wednesday evenings)

6 pm to 8 pm EST

12 Zoom Sessions

October 2, 16, 30 | November 13, 26 | December 11, 18

January 8, 22 | February 5, 19 | March 5

Tuition: $2,497

(payments can be made in one payment or in three payments)

You will be in a community with dedicated writers invested in mastering the art of memoir. You will write, learn how to revise your work, and benefit from in-depth discussion of your writing and the work of your colleagues. 

Monthly reading and discussions of a wide range of classic memoirs will introduce you to the elements of style and the power of narrative.  

You will meet and get to ask questions of Cherisse Fisher, a literary agent with the New York-based Wendy Sherman Agency.

You’ll meet: 

Cherise Fisher 

Over the course of her twenty-five year career, Cherise worked as an acquiring editor at Simon & Schuster and the Editor-in-Chief of Plume. She advocates for memoirs that uncover the diversity of human experience, and take on non-fiction writers who are experts on a variety of topics such as personal development, health and sexuality, racial identity, Christianity and spirituality, diet and fitness, African American history, and pop culture.

You’ll get: 

• Professional guidance to write your story with power and skill
• A supportive community of Black women writers on the same journey
• A reading list of classic memoirs by Black women writers from Audre Lorde to Natasha Tretheway. We’ll read these books together and study them for themes and writing style
• Regular writing assignments
• Regular discussion of your writing in the workshops
• We’ll meet twice monthly for writing workshops and group discussions of your narrative submission
• You will have an individual coaching session with me
• You will get my regular written evaluation of your writing
• Workshop discussion of your writing will enhance and broaden your understanding of your story
• I will provide a written evaluation of your final writing project: A submission of up to forty pages from your memoir
• This six-month Memoir Intensive from October to March

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This Workshop Intensive will: 

• Provide you with a supportive community
• Grow and enhance your writing skills
• Give you an inside look at how the publishing world works  

A little about me ...



I am the award-winning author of over 20 works of fiction and nonfiction, including my memoir, Migrations of the Heart, and my most recent novel The Wide Circumference of Love, The Strong Black Woman and The New Black Woman.

In my role as teacher, coach, and editor, I have worked with many prominent award-winning writers including political analyst Donna Brazile, (Cooking With Grease Stirring the Pots in America), Bernardine Watson (Transplant A Memoir) and novelists Nicole Dennis-Benn, (Here Comes the Sun and Patsy), Tope Folarin, (A Particular Kind of Black Man),  Sadeqa Johnson, (author of the New York Times Best-Selling novel The House of Eve), Jamila Minnick (Moonrise Over Jessup) M. Shelley Conner (Everyman) and many others.

I have taught creative writing in the MFA Creative Writing Programs at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University. I have also served as Writer-in-Residence at numerous colleges and universities, including the University of the District of Columbia and Johns Hopkins University. I co-founded The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation.