Writing from Family Photographs

Special Topic Workshop: 1 Session
October 26, 10 am – 12:30 pm
Instructor: Karen vanMeenen

Family photographs can be a rich source of story and symbol for writers. In this workshop, we will look at family photographs in history and from the participants’ personal collections. Guided prompts will allow for exploration, discovery and processing of memories and family stories, of both the past and looking toward the future.

Karen vanMeenen has served as the Coordinator of Writers & Books’ Rochester Reads program since 2001. She is also a full-time Lecturer at Rochester Institute of Technology, teaching courses in Writing, Literature, and Contemporary Media Art. Karen has been the Editor of the media arts journal Afterimage for more than twenty years. She edited the collections Giving Sorrow Words: Poems of Strength and Solace; Light At the End: Poems by Lyn Lifshin; and Nevermore: Poetry and Prose by Edgar Allan Poe, and has copyedited several full-length works. She has contributed to several publications including Art Papers, Art New England, Source: Ireland’s Photographic Review, and the Journal of Applied Arts and Health. She is certified as a writing therapist and serves on the executive board of the National Association for Poetry Therapy and is the Book Reviews Editor for the Journal for Poetry Therapy.