Purpose
Memoir Journal’s (In)Visible Memoirs Project nurtures, publishes, and circulates memoirs that are too often excluded from dominant literary discourses. Our focus is on communities traditionally underserved by literary programming and underrepresented in contemporary literature. We recognize that the exclusion of so many voices from literary programming limits our understanding of the world in which we live and deprives us all.

At Memoir Journal, we believe that everyone has a story to tell. Creating space for a plurality of stories is an integral part of our work. The (In)Visible Memoirs Project aims to hold space for this plurality, and, in doing so, help make more visible both the diversity and universality of human experience. We believe that writers are born when individual writers begin to write — and we’d like to see writing encouraged everywhere.

Process
For participants, the (In)Visible Memoirs Project offers the space and resources useful for cultivating both writing practice and writerly identity. The Project invites participants to see themselves as writers, and to explore the power of that role. For instructors, the (In)Visible Memoirs Project provides teaching writers with a unique opportunity to design memoir-centered workshops in communities they resonate with personally and locally – as well as an opportunity to edit the writing generated during the workshop towards publication in an annual anthology.

Progress
The (In)Visible Memoirs Project is expanding in 2012 to more communities. We are actively seeking proposals from teaching writers and community organizations nationwide to develop future initiatives. While our commitment is to all underrepresented and underserved communities, we are particularly invested in cultivating workshops in the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) and the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Past Invisible Memoirs Projects
- The Lesbian Women Writers of Strawberry Creek Lodge & Openhouse
- The Fortune Society www.fortunesociety.org
- Resources for Indian Student Education (RISE)
- A Leiland Community (St. Mary’s Center) www.stmaryscenter.org
- Youth in the San Francisco Juvenile Justice System
- Openhouse San Francisco LGBT Seniors www.openhouse-sf.org

Interested in submitting a proposal for a future workshop? Contact Education Programs Manager Rachel Reynolds at rfreynolds [at] memoirjournal.com. (If you’re a community organization interested in hosting a workshop, we may be able to connect with a teaching writer to jumpstart a proposal. Drop Rachel a line).