How to Write a Family Portrait

Tell the stories that have preoccupied, amused, and defined your family for generations. In this hour-long generative writing workshop, essayist Kristen Millares Young will use guided prompts and discussions to help you plan, write, and revise your family stories. By reflecting on intimate truths of those stories long-muted or forgotten, we can redefine how we think about ourselves and generations of our kin, consider how we contribute to our communities, and spark vital conversations. Participants will leave with new pages. Thank you to Washington Humanities for sponsoring this event!

Note: This event is one part of the CityLit West Festival. All sessions require registration, even those that are free. Register for other sessions by following the links below:

1:00-2:30pm: "The Work That Makes All Other Work Possible" with Angela Garbes at The Pioneer Collective (Sliding scale pricing. Advanced registration required.)

5:30-7:00pm: Writer-Moms Panel Discussion and Social at Black Bottle Gastrotavern (Free. sponsored by Black Bottle Gastrotavern. Advanced registration required.)

Meet the Presenter

Kristen Millares Young (she/her) is a journalist, essayist, and author. Her novel Subduction was a winner of the Nautilus and IPPY awards, as well as a finalist for two International Latino Book Awards and Foreword Indies Book of the Year. She is also the editor of Seismic. Millares Young was the researcher for the New York Times team behind “Snow Fall,” which won a Pulitzer. Her essays, reviews, and investigations appear in the Washington Post, the Guardian, and anthologies such as Alone Together. Millares Young lives in Seattle.