Our Stories from the Heart Conferences bring women from around the country to celebrate our stories and our lives. Through writing, reading, listening, and sharing, we discover how personal narrative is a healing art, how we can gather our memories, how we can tell our stories. We welcome readers, writers, storytellers, and any woman with a past, present, and future. There are opportunities to explore difficult or hidden issues, expand our relationships with other women, and discover different modes and media—such as art, dance, and drama—for sharing our stories. Come, learn, share, celebrate with us as we honor our stories!
Our conference will be held in person after danger from the coronavirus has passed. Subscribe to our emails to be notified when that will be. Meanwhile, we hold a virtual mini-conference in October 2021. See details here.
Here are a few highlights from our past conferences:
Linda Joy Myers
"What is Your True Name? Break the Silence, Write Your Story"
Linda Joy Myers, founder and president of the National Association of Memoir Writers, is an award-winning author in memoir, fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Her memoir Don't Call Me Mother—A Daughter's Journey from Abandonment to Forgiveness is a Foreword Book of the Year finalist and won honorable mention in the New York Book Awards and Indie-Excellence Awards. Her latest book, Song of the Plains: A Memoir of Family, Secrets, and Silence was published last June to instant acclaim. She has also written several how-to books on memoir writing.
In her words: "I enjoy meeting people who are passionate about capturing the stories of their lives. Writing a memoir is an act of faith and learning. Writers who tell a personal story feel exposed and vulnerable, but in that rich mud of family history, there are many opportunities for creativity, healing, and connecting with the world of art, literature, and the life stories that link us all." Visit Linda Joy's website.
Lorraine (Bird) Mejia
Lorraine (Bird) Mejia is a popular instructor in SCN's online classes, garnering kudos from novice and seasoned writers from coast to coast. Her topic was "Our Heroine's Journey—Using Our Diverse Voices to Empower the World." She is uniquely qualified. The daughter of a Mexican woman who came to the U.S. at the age of eleven, Lorraine's life journey led her to discover an intense inner passion for helping women to empower themselves through writing their personal stories. Born and raised in Minnesota, she has lived in Spain, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Washington and Arizona. Visit her website.
Len Leatherwood
"How to Improve Your Writing and Get Published: Flash Fiction and Flash Memoir"
Len Leatherwood, Program Coordinator for SCN's Online Classes program, has been teaching writing privately to students in Beverly Hills for the past 17 years. She has received a state and national teacher award for the past 7 years from the Scholastic Artists and Writers Awards, the oldest and most prestigious writing contest for youth in the U.S. She is a daily blogger at 20 Minutes a Day, as well as a published writer of "flash" fiction/memoir with pieces appearing in flashquake, longstoryshort, All Things Girl, SCN's True Words Anthology, Provo Canyon Review, as well as A Cup of Comfort Cookbook. She was a nominee for a Pushcart Prize, the best of the small presses, in 2015.
Susan Wittig Albert
"Paths to Publishing"
Susan Wittig Albert is the New York Times best-selling author of 100+ traditionally and independently published works. Susan earned her Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkley. Leaving her 15-year academic career, she became a full-time writer, eventually publishing four mystery series (one co-authored with her husband), two memoirs, and several books of nonfiction with such major publishers as Penguin/Random House and Scribner. In the past five years, she has published three (soon to be four) novels under her independent imprint, Persevero Press, winning over a dozen awards. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Women Writing the West and the founder and past president of the Story Circle Network. Visit her website.
