Intro to Speculative Memoir

June 2026 / Facilitated by Ern Rivera

Virtual, via Zoom Hosted by fifth wheel press Sunday, June 28, 2026; time TBD

Overview

This workshop will explore speculative memoir, an emerging genre with its roots in a variety of experimental and interdisciplinary approaches to historical writing. It's intended for readers and writers interested in speculative memoir seeking support with navigating its cross-genre aspects, or for those interested in working outside the limits of journalistic memoir or autofiction.

Together, we'll:

trace the genre’s historical roots as a means for engaging with histories that have been erased, destroyed, or otherwise distorted by different forms of power, oppression, and violence;
read excerpts from recent entries in the genre; and,
build a toolbox of strategies and prompts for writing speculative memoir ourselves.

Content

During this 90-minute workshop, we'll examine excerpts from:

The Story Game by Shze-Hui Tjoa;
The Night Parade by Jami Nakamura Lin;
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado;
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde; and
The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals by Samuel R. Delany.

We'll also look at the methodology used by Saidiya Hartman in Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, itself a product of speculative archival work that Hartman calls “critical fabulation,” as well as a new form of speculative memoir called “autofabulation,” which I develop in my forthcoming book, The Ecology of Art, Strike!.

Finally, we'll work through a series of autofabulation-based prompts that will allow you to walk away from the workshop with initial drafts of flash pieces in the genre.

Availability

This workshop will be held live by fifth wheel press via Zoom. An asynchronous version will be available via Itch.io after the live session.