| Turning Memories Into Memoirs ® |
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Since 1988, thousands of people have learned to write biography and autobiography through the Turning Memories Into Memoirs® workshops. Author and teacher Denis Ledoux developed the curriculum and originated the workshops. He offered the first Turning Memories® workshops with the support of major grants from the Maine Humanities Council. Turning Memories Into Memoirs, the 208-page handbook for writing lifestories which draws directly on Ledoux's experience of the workshops, was published in 1992. Many printings later, it has reached memoir writers across the English-speaking world. Although Ledoux presented his early workshops in senior centers, he soon began to adapt and develop the Turning Memories® method for other groups and venues. Today, he works with junior and senior high school students, continuing education classes, alumni associations, men's groups, funeral parlors, historical societies, and inns to offer quality memoir writing programs to a wide variety of people. Some workshop participants are experienced writers, but many have never written before. |
| Soleil Lifestory Network |
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Today the workshops are also delivered by independent lifewriting teachers and workshop leaders throughout the United States, and in Jamaica, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Israel. These writing teachers use the method, the handbook, Turning Memories Into Memoirs, and other Turning Memories® materials in their lectures, seminars, community education classes, workshops, conferences and other memoir and family history programs for a variety of audiences. Turning Memories®is the foundation of lifewriting projects for senior citizens, "baby boomers", people and their families who are coping with illness, loss or transition, school children, genealogists turned family historians... Turning Memories® teachers are supported by a full program of professional development services and supports from the Soleil Lifestory Network. |
| The Photo Scribe®: Scrapbook Journaling |
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In both 1996 and '97, Denis was invited to speak at the annual national convention of the organization Creative Memories. There he met thousands of Consultants whose businesses revolve around safe and attractive storage and design of family photograph albums. Many Consultants were hungry for writing skills to teach to their customers who want to save both the photo and the story in album format.
The result was Denis' new book, The Photo Scribe: A Writing Guide, How to Write the Stories Behind Your Photographs. Using the same writing fundamentals and techniques outlined in Turning Memories Into Memoirs, The Photo Scribe makes lifestory writing a natural and accessible companion to scrapbook page design.
Writing down your stories is a worthwhile endeavor. Whether you choose to have writing or photographs as the focus of your personal, commemorative, or family history memoir, we hope you will look to the resources we offer to support your project. We invite you to contact us at 207-353-5454 for more information about our products and workshops. |
| Denis Ledoux |
| Turning Memories®originator Denis Ledoux grew up in a three-generation home with paternal grandparents who lived upstairs.Stories have always played an important role in Ledoux's life. As a child, he heard tales of his extended family and their history recounted by the family storyteller, his mémère. Later, as a short story writer, he drew on family characters, settings, and stories for his fiction. It was a natural leap from there to helping others to record their stories in well-written accounts that apply all
the techniques of fiction writing to autobiography, family reminiscence, and scrapbooking.
Ledoux is a writer, editor, teacher (B.A.English; M.A. Ed.), and publisher. He has twice been chosen Maine Writing Fellow (1991, 1996), an NEA-based merit award, and, in 1989, he won the Maine Fiction Award for Mountain Dance & Other Stories. His other titles include What Became of Them and Other Stories from Franco-America, Lives in Translation: An Anthology of Contemporary Franco-American Writings, which he edited, and the foundation text for the Turning Memories workshops, Turning Memories Into Memoirs/ A Handbook for Writing Lifestories. In 1996, he was named Lifewriting Professional of theYear by the Association of Personal Historians. More about his credentials and background. Today, Denis directs an international group of lifewriting teachers who use his method and materials to lead Turning Memories® programs around the world. And he uses his skills to work individually with beginning and experienced writers as an editor and coach. Of course, memoirs are his editing specialty. |
| Soleil Press |
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Soleil Press is the publishing arm of the Turning Memories Into Memoirs and Photo Scribe workshops. We focus on production of high quality materials to support the important work of lifewriting: how-to books and audio guides, workshop curricula, workbooks, pamphlets, binders, and other support materials. We are always interested in receiving well thought-out queries for lifewriting projects from writers who are familiar with our work and experienced in this subject. But please, do not submit manuscripts for publication without first querying. E-mail us: query @ turningmemories.com |