MEMOIR CIRCLES

Then try, like some first human being, to say what you see and experience and love and lose…
Letters to a Young Poet — Rainer Maria Rilke​
Come join one of our Memoir Writing Circles. They are a supportive structure, personal guide and writing community in which to find, create and share your life's stories. In the warmth and encouragement of women's circles, we write, read, listen and prepare our book projects for publication. We support each other and gain courage to present our written works to family and friends in public settings.​
You were set here for this, to give voice to your own astonishment.
​Annie Dillard
StoryArts specializes in facilitating women's life writing circles. We are known for helping new writers find their voice and make a commitment to a memoir project.​
Memoir Circles
Individual Coaching
Annual Retreats
Community Readings
Custom Publishing
Women's Life Writing Sessions Help You
  • Direct your life story
  • Awaken your writing muse
  • Inspire hidden writing talents
  • Nurture a creative life path
  • Learn to maintain a writer's life
  • Organize and develop a book project
  • Prepare a transcript for publication
  • Share your writing with friends and family
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Donna Otter
Writing in women's circles changed my life in a way that scares me to think, what if I hadn't had them? "Being heard" has become a cliche, but I don't know how else to say it - these women listened, didn't critique or judge, asked for more, and gave back a reflection that my life and how I wrote it was worth hearing. And I heard them, which told me that I wasn't alone, and gave me information about the larger picture, our particular culture, what we had in common and what we didn't. What a necessary luxury it is to have a group who wants to know: how did you get here, what is it like, and what happens next? How important it is to have a group which doesn't let us diminish our own story, who comes to know our particular myth, and who helps us hold onto the thread of meaning and coherence.
…Donna Otter
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​Lois Sunrich is StoryArts' Founding Director. Her expertise includes twenty-five years as a community developer. Prior to StoryArts, Lois founded Storymakers, a women's journal writing community that began as a ten year project collecting the story of 50 women from around the county during the last decade in the century. Lois has taught life writing to individuals and groups in the United States and Japan. Lois also has fifteen years experience working as a community developer for several non profit family counseling agencies in the San Diego area. For these organizations she designed and implemented innovative human development programs. Lois has a BA in humanistic psychology from UCSD and studied poetics at Naropa, a Buddhist educational institute in Boulder, Colorado. Lois also studied under the tutelage of Dr. Jack Gibb, a pioneer in the human development field.