Memoir is a nonfiction literary genre based on an author’s personal memories. It is similar to autobiography, but it is narrower and takes a reader into a pivotal moment that left an impact on the writer’s life.
Elisabeth Sherwin is a seasoned journalist who teaches memoir writing at the Estes Valley Rec Center. Her next class begins Monday, Sept. 9 and runs through Dec. 16.
“The format is simple—you write something at home, come to class and read it out loud. Gentle comments and critiques ensue. No writing experience is necessary,” said Sherwin who retired nearly a decade ago to Allenspark after a 35-year career writing for newspapers in California.
“Our class definition of ‘memoir’ is very loose. I write about things that happened fairly recently and also about things that occurred long ago,” she said.
Sherwin grew up in Glencoe, a Chicago suburb. She went to college in Hiram, Ohio and then earned a master’s in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1981. She worked as a copy editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and the San Francisco Examiner, and was a reporter, editor, book reviewer, and copy editor at the Davis (Calif.) Enterprise. She also taught journalism at UC Davis Extension.
Sherwin’s interest in memoir began by reading obituaries. “It is amazing how interesting people are. I think I got interested in memoirs after reading a lot of obituaries. I’d read a friend’s or an acquaintance’s obit and think, ‘That’s really cool. I never knew that about her.’ So, I thought I’d gather some people together and see if we could write about our lives before the obit,” said Sherwin.
Her grandparents came to Allenspark in 1944, and she spent summers visiting them when she was growing up. When it was time to retire, moving to the mountains felt like home. “Every time I drive by where they used to live, my car wants to turn up the driveway and go visit them,” she said. “I kick myself because I never asked them enough questions, and now I would love to know many more details about their lives.”
Sherwin began teaching memoir in Allenspark about five years ago before deciding to move the class to the Estes Park Rec Center. Many of the people who attend are retired and are writing things down for their children and grandchildren. “I think that’s really important,” said Sherwin who sees the writing of memoir as a tool to build community.
Sherwin’s class is open to anyone with a Rec Center membership or a day pass. The classes meet on Monday afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the downstairs classroom.
In addition to teaching memoir, Sherwin maintains a webpage, Elisabeth Sherwin’s Printed Matter, a collection of more than 400 of her book reviews, columns, and features.
She is currently working on a writing project about her grandmother who was a nursing student at Bellevue Hospital in New York in 1919. “I have a collection of the letters she wrote to her parents, and I am going through them now trying to read her handwriting and sort out interesting bits. I may have a memoir there,” Sherwin said.
[Editor’s note: Phil Zwart of Estes Park participated in one of Elisabeth Sherwin’s memoir classes and has shared a poignant memoir for readers of the Estes Valley Voice about his son David and the impact of David’s suicide more than 30 years ago. Click here to read Zwart’s memoir.]