43 Best Memoir Writing Classes in 2026

Single-day in-person workshop at Sydney Community College's Rozelle campus, 2A Gordon St, on Friday 6 November, 9am to 3pm. Fee $263 AUD including GST. Taught by Gabiann Marin, a script and story-writing consultant and lecturer with a professional writing degree and honours in film and television production. Six hours in one sitting, so you get a whole day on your own life material rather than a weekly commitment. Places were available at the time of listing, and the college gives 15 per cent off if you book two or more writing courses together.

One-day in-person workshop on Saturday 10 October, 10am to 4pm, with Kavita Bedford, author of Friends & Dark Shapes. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. The subject is the seam between memoir and fiction - how to draw on real people and real events while still writing a novel or story rather than a record. Useful if you have autobiographical material you have not worked out how to fictionalise.

Two full Saturdays at the QWF office in Westmount, Montreal, 14 and 21 November, 10.30am to 4.30pm, led by Afreina Noor, ending in a live in-person showcase. Fee $240 CAD for non-members, $210 CAD for QWF members, $120 CAD students. You leave with one true personal story of seven minutes or less, built through guided writing, editing, peer feedback and performance coaching - aimed at people who want to tell at events like The Moth or Confabulation. Capped at 12; the showcase itself is in-person only.

Full-day in-person writing retreat at St Matthew's Clubhouse in Toronto's east end, Sunday 6 December, 10am to 5pm, facilitated by Kim and Asifa. Open only to people who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour. Fee $285 CAD plus tax with instalment payment available, and two places are held at half price on a first-come basis. The day moves from short creativity-waking exercises into long stretches of quiet writing time, closing with sharing and a look at what comes next.

Eight-week in-class creative non-fiction course on the St. George campus in Toronto, Mondays 6.30-9pm from 19 October, taught by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, author of Down to This and Hungover. Fee $699 CAD. It covers memoir, personal essay and literary journalism - telling factual stories with the techniques of fiction. Counts towards the SCS Certificate in Creative Writing.

Four-week in-person memoir course at The Porch House in Nashville led by bestselling memoirist Marianne Richmond, $242 ($206 for members). Richmond teaches a Choose - Shape - Share framework, working through theme, voice, scene, reflection and revision, and treats memoir as an argument rather than a chronology. The final sessions cover publishing pathways, so it suits writers thinking about where a finished manuscript goes.

In-person workshop in Boston, $750 ($725 for members), taught by Frankie Concepcion. Ten Mondays, 14 September to 23 November 2026, 6:00-9:00pm at GrubStreet’s Seaport centre. For writers already working on a memoir manuscript rather than deciding whether to start one - ten weeks of sustained workshop on work in progress. Three-hour sessions, so more workshop time per week than the six-week courses.

In-person workshop in Boston, $595 ($575 for members), taught by Phoebe Hyde. Eight Thursdays, 10 September to 29 October 2026, 10:30am-1:30pm at GrubStreet’s Seaport centre. Written for people starting a memoir later in life and beginning with origin stories rather than the whole arc. Daytime scheduling suits anyone not working a standard week - most GrubStreet in-person workshops run evenings.

In-person single session in Chicago, $65, taught by Cyn Vargas. Monday 24 September 2026, 6:30-8:30pm at StoryStudio’s Chicago studio. Two hours on how a story is put together - where it starts, how it moves, where the weight falls. Renewed from the expired ‘Form & Content: Experimenting with Prose Structures’ listing, which StoryStudio no longer runs; this is the closest current same-provider equivalent on structure. URL moved off the generic /classes page onto the class itself.

In-person workshop in Los Angeles at UCLA Extension, over two Saturdays from 7 November 2026. A weekend-shaped alternative to the term-length courses: memoir and personal essay craft compressed into two full days rather than eleven weeks, which suits writers who cannot commit to a weekly evening. Latest-starting in-person option in the current catalogue.

In-person single session in Houston, $135, taught by Hank Roubicek, Ph.D. Wednesday 2 September 2026, 10:00am-12:00pm at the Women’s Institute of Houston. A two-hour orientation to memoir as a form rather than a writing course: what separates a memoir from an autobiography, how to choose the slice of life or theme worth building a book around, and where to start. Suits someone deciding whether they have a memoir in them.

In-person yearlong cohort in Seattle, $1,810, taught by Cara Stoddard. Thirty sessions from 24 September 2026 to 10 June 2027 at Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave. Pitched at advanced memoirists rather than beginners: writers arrive with a project already underway and work it through a full year of craft study and group critique.