Telling Your Life Story

Telling Your Life Story Writing Workshop, $50

Saturday, June 19th, 2021, 9:30AM-12:30PM Central 

St. Mary’s Sewanee welcomes presenter Amy-Lyles Wilson, a writer, story coach, and spiritual director. She will help us get started on telling our life stories. This workshop is for adults of all skill—and confidence!—levels. We will not focus on critique, but instead practice creativity and craft in community. Whether you do it for yourself, or to share with others, getting the highlights of your life down on paper allows you to take a look at all you’ve accomplished, what you missed, how you made it this far. During our time together we’ll write in response to prompts, discuss relevant literature, and share suggestions. You will be invited, but not compelled, to read your work aloud. Please join us for this supportive and encouraging workshop designed to honor your personal stories.

Amy-Lyles Wilson, M.A., M.T.S., believes it is the sharing of our stories that saves us. Toward that end, she helps people get to the heart of the matter through words. A Mississippi native who calls Nashville home, Amy-Lyles works as a writer, story coach, teacher, and spiritual director through her company, Hamblett House. She has extensive experience in facilitating workshops and establishing writing groups that serve to support and encourage people to claim their voices. In addition, she has been published in a variety of magazines and co-authored or contributed to nine books. Her essay “The Guts to Keep Going” was featured on National Public Radio. Amy-Lyles has served as adjunct professor and writer-in-residence at the Earlham School of Religion, and led workshops across the South, as well as at the Chautauqua Institution. She is a trained spiritual director and facilitator of both Amherst Writers and Artists and SoulCollage® workshops, and holds degrees in English, journalism, and theology. In 2021, she received the Certificate in Narrative Healthcare from Lenoir-Rhyne University. www.amylyleswilson.com

“It is a rare gift to combine one’s passion for artistic pursuits with a vocation to serve others, but Amy-Lyles does just that. Her workshops are designed to welcome the writer in each of us, and she is adept at drawing even the most timid into the healing dance of words. An expert facilitator, she fosters a safe environment where prompts encourage participation; where hearts find their way from pen to page without threat of criticism; and where the unique voice inside each of us is given permission to speak its truth. Her workshops are good medicine for the soul.”—Janis Lovecchio, Director of Adult Faith Formation at Holy Family Catholic Church, Brentwood, Tennessee.