First Person Productions
First Person Productions creates life writing programs for individuals, families, businesses and communities — including books, interviews, workshops, and intergenerational programs. Here you’ll find resources related to these programs.
Memoir writing workshops:
Contact me for upcoming schedule.
We all have stories worth telling, but it takes two skills to tell them well: an ability to draw universal insights from personal experience, and a grasp of storytelling technique. That’s what you’ll gain from my memoir writing workshops.
The workshop includes six two-hour sessions. Each week we explore different aspects of the writing craft, then discuss priming questions to help you draw out memories and insights about a topic. You will write a few pages on a significant theme of your life history. Each meeting includes time to share what you’ve written. In our final session we will explore ways to organize and publish your life story for others to enjoy.
Previous participants have given Sarah White positive reviews:
“She made each session stimulating. I wish they could have been longer and more.”
“I liked her way of keeping the course on track, offering praise and critiques.”
But the participants are the real stars of this show!
“The read-and-share was the best part. It was wonderful to hear others with their different writing styles.”
“I was impressed with the excellent writing and integrity of the class.”
(names withheld for confidentiality)
Intergenerational programs:
In spring 2005, 31 fourth-grade students at Lake View Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin became family history detectives for a class project. I worked with teacher Susie Hobart to guide the students as they explored their family histories. I brought groups of older adults from a variety of ethnic backgrounds to the classroom for the students to interview. The students did additional research, then made artistic displays illustrating the facts they discovered. They displayed their exhibits at a festive school event and invited their families and friends. I wrote about the children’s experience for Googolplex.
