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NEA Big Read 2022

NEA Big Read: Beloved: Mining Memories to Understand Choice

Free

Click 'Register' Below to Apply by 4/15

Once a week Saturdays, 12:00 pm EDT - 2:30 pm EDT April 30 to May 21, 2022

Online via Zoom

A free, interactive close reading and personal narrative writing workshop for students in grades 11 and 12. Applications closed April 15th.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a story about, among many things, how the manipulation of memory drives personal choice. Through a mixture of discussion and close-reading activities, participants will work together to examine the various ways memory takes shape in the novel.

Everyone will be provided with a copy of the book, and participants are required to read assigned pages between sessions.

Students will then mine their memories to find, shape, and share personal narratives. Writing about a pivotal choice from their lives, participants will explore how memory lives in the body, both on its surface and under its skin.

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Led by

  • No, YOU Tell It!

    Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons

    Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons

    Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons is a writer, educator, and storyteller who lives in Astoria, Queens. Her recent work has appeared in HiLobrow, Marie Claire, and Hippocampus magazine. She is also the creator of No, YOU Tell It! (noyoutellit.com), a series that advocates for authentic personal stories by having storytellers trade true tales to speak each other’s words aloud, empowering voices on the page and stage. Follow @noyoutellit on Instagram for more.