Your Story, Well Told - Storytelling Workshop
with the Host of “The Moth”

January 10 - February 7, 2024
5 Wednesdays, 1:00PM-4:00PM (and one Friday)
Performance: Friday, February 9 at 4:00pm

Corte Madera Store

$380 (Includes book Your Story, Well Told)

Returning Your Story, Well Told students, register here:

You have great stories to tell. In this workshop, Author and Storyteller Corey Rosen (host of The Moth, BATS Improv, Author of "Your Story, Well Told") helps you to uncover your best stories, develop them in a safe and supportive environment, and then perform them in a free LIVE showcase for friends and family. All classes are taught in person in Corte Madera.

Corey Rosen is a writer, actor, visual effects producer, and storytelling teacher based in San Francisco, California. He hosts The Moth StorySlams and GrandSlams, and has been featured on The Moth Radio Hour, Alice Radio’s “The Sarah and Vinnie Show,” and KFOG's "The Finch Files" Podcast. Corey is a performer at BATS Improv, one of the world’s foremost centers for Improvisational Theater and is the author of “Your Story, Well Told: Creative Strategies to Develop and Perform Stories that Wow an Audience.”

Corey’s book - Your Story, Well Told - is included with class registration.

Book Group: Travel Literature, hosted by Michael Shapiro
with live appearances by Pico Iyer, Frances Mayes and Tim Cahill

Second Saturday of the month, 10:15AM to 12:00PM
Four classes:
Jan 13, Feb 10, Mar 9, Apr 13

Live via Zoom - $150

This book group, which will meet the second Saturday of each month over Zoom, will review modern classics from four titans of travel literature: Tim Cahill, Bill Bryson, Frances Mayes and Pico Iyer. We will explore best-sellers such as Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” and Mayes’ “Under the Tuscan Sun” — and lesser known but equally rewarding books, including Tim Cahill's anthology “Pass the Butterworms” and Pico Iyer’s transcendent, “The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise.” Tim, Frances, and Pico will all be joining the discussion of their respective books for a portion of that session.

Led by Michael Shapiro, longtime travel writer and Book Passage teacher, the group will discuss what makes these books so compelling and will examine the techniques that each writer uses to engage the reader. We will pull back the curtain and share ideas about what makes great travel writing.

Books to be Read (all available for purchase at links in titles below):
Jan 13:   A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
Feb 10:  Pass the Butterworms, by Tim Cahill
Mar 9:    Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
Apr 13:  The Half Known Life, by Pico Iyer

Author visits: The authors of each, with the exception of Bill Bryson, will join for 30-45 minutes of the discussion of their book, probably during the last part of the class.

Michael Shapiro is the author of "The Creative Spark" (Solas House), winner of a 2021 Independent Publishers Book Award. Among the authors he interviewed for that book: Barbara Kingsolver, Pico Iyer and Amy Tan. He’s also the author of "A Sense of Place," a collection of conversations with travel writers such as Paul Theroux and Jan Morris. A longtime journalist, Shapiro writes for National Geographic, Sierra, AFAR, and the San Francisco Chronicle, where he has written travel features and reviewed books. He's taught several classes at Book Passage and has been a member of the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference faculty for more than 20 years.

An Introduction to News Writing

3 Saturdays
 January 20,  January 27,  & February 3, 2024
1:30PM -3:00PM

Corte Madera Store - $115

Whether you are an aspiring reporter or simply eager to polish your editorial skills, join journalist Mitchell Sam Rossi as he shares his insight and experiences from a forty-year career writing for various news organizations and monthly periodicals. 

During this three-part workshop, Mitchell will illustrate the distinctive techniques of news gathering and article structure.  Discussions will highlight the Five Ws, the Inverted Pyramid format, and how to create factual stories that do not feel heavy-handed.  

 The 90-minute sessions will cover:

• ways to find compelling stories
• developing reliable sources
• how to apply long-established news practices to your writing.  
• interviewing techniques and the essential fact-checking processes.  
• creating their leads and initial paragraphs with in-class exercises
• the ethics of news reporting
• objectivity versus opinion, fairness and balance, and how accuracy and clarity are the cornerstones of good news writing
• how news bureaus determine what is or is not a newsworthy story
• how to be sure your story ideas reach the printed page.

While discussions will focus on the fast-paced world of news reporting, the skills and techniques covered in class can be applied to a range of markets and will expand every writer’s toolbox.  

Mitchell Sam Rossi is a journalist, author, and award-winning screenwriter. Over his forty-year career, he has written about environmental issues, community development, travel, automobiles, and technology. For fifteen years, Mitchell was a reporter and associate editor at the Los Angeles Times Calendar Section. An avid traveler and photographer, he holds a B.A in journalism and an M.P.W. in professional writing, both from the University of Southern California. Mitchell is a member of P.E.N., Left Coast Writers, and California Writers Club.

Create Your Own Selfie Comic Strip
(no need to draw!)

4 Mondays, January 22 - February 12
6:30pm-8:00pm PT

Zoom - $250

Former Rolling Stone journalist, humor writer and comic strip artist Jenny Jedeikin will teach students how to produce their own personal narrative graphic stories in this virtual four-session class. 

When we express our lived experience through the lens of humor we expose ourselves as imperfect narrators. Writing which reveals our pain and vulnerability can often be a healing way to work through personal challenges - past and present. Discover your authentically funny voice in this engaging workshop, where you will be led through a series of generative writing exercises to create a personal comic strip, using words and pictures from your every day life. 

No experience is required to participate.
PLEASE NOTE: Class requires students to download easy-to-use $30 comic strip software between the first and second class. 

Jenny Jedeikin is a writer and editor with experience both in current online media platforms as well as national magazines, TV, and radio. Her column in Rolling Stone Magazine was the first to give national exposure to such topics as Generation X and body piercing. In her stint as a Segment Producer/Writer for MTV’s The Jon Stewart Show, she lent her perspective to the (now legendary) host’s first foray into television. As a stand-up comedian in New York City, Jenny appeared performing original material on Comedy Central. She has published personal essays and created graphic stories in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Advocate, Spiralbound, Pacific Sun, North Bay Bohemian, SF/Arts, Whole Life Times, The Bold Italic, Curve Magazine and Narratively. As a freelance writer, her contributions have won three MarCom awards, and two Hermes Creative awards. Jenny’s comic strip, “Just Living Jenny” is published on Substack.

See a sample of Jenny’s comic strip work here: The Ex Guest

Praise for Jenny’s class: 

"A fresh and exciting approach to storytelling.  This is a unique and fun class. I can’t say enough great things about Jenny. She was able to have us dig deeper into ourselves and bring out the richness of our stories. She was a wonderful teacher and created a very safe space for everyone."
— Jenn E.

"Excellent class! We were encouraged to develop a strong story and do a lot of deep thinking. I appreciated the writing exercises, watching our stories develop narratively, and the emphasis on staying in the moment in our storytelling!"
— Jane M.

Finding Form: Shaping Your Memoir

Four Saturdays

February 3 - February 24
10:00AM -12:30PM PST

Online via Zoom • $375

You’ve written a draft of your memoir… a series of essays… a few vignettes. Now what? How do you revise, organize, put it together?

Structure is more than a container, it’s a dynamic expression of voice, character and theme. This workshop examines how writers of memoir and memoir-based fiction shape their work. We will analyze the Three-Act Paradigm as well as alternative and hybrid structures, and explore how the shape of a memoir, its organizing principle, comes from inside the story. 

Class format includes reading, lecture, discussion and writing exercises.

Connie Josefs is a writer, teacher and memoir coach. She leads workshops in memoir and memoir-based fiction and has taught at the University of New Mexico, Southwest Writers, The Taos Writers Conference and Santa Monica College, where she was founding editor of the literary journal, “E-33: Writings from Emeritus.” She holds an MFA in fiction from Antioch University LA and has worked as a writer and story analyst for film and television. More at www.conniejosefs.com.