Folk Memory: A Generative Workshop for Writing Folklore with Jessie McCarty
Saturday & Sunday 3:00 pm EDT - 6:00 pm EDT October 18 to October 19, 2025
Dia daoibh! There are plenty of spots for my workshop on Folk writing at The Center for Fiction. I know times are bleak right now, and yet I hope my generative workshop will be a nice reprieve? You can sign up in my bio, but read on if you’re interested!
[Folk Memory] is a two-day generative workshop, cross-referencing oral stories, contemporary folk narratives, and digital repositories to help writers appreciate and jumpstart their writing within the folklore and fable genre. We will use examples of Irish folklore, folklore from the American South and Midwest. Whether you are new to writing or well into your career, folklorists and fabulists of all backgrounds are encouraged to participate (October 18 & 19).
My teaching style is conversational while leaning towards visual references and group readings. I always share resources for long-term reference. I am drawn to the bibliographic approach to teaching, believing everyone’s writing speaks towards an even bigger canon and thus I give each student a reading and archive list tailored towards their needs for the workshop. Students can expect to leave with a wider knowledge of folklore writing happening today, especially towards the South, and where to visit folklore archives in the U.S. I hope this is a less-daunting approach to starting your own genre based writing!
This course will be held online via Zoom.
Level: Intermediate
Led by: Jessie McCarty
Jessie McCarty is a cataloger and writer. Their poetry, in English and Gaeilge, uses archival and taxonomy as memory tools. Their poems have been published in Sarka, the Minnesota Review, Charm School, the Documentarian, Don’t Submit Lit, Thick Press, and more. They write the newsletter Poetic Classifications on Substack. Pretty Punks is out December 2025 with Magra Books.