“Write the weird thing. We often get discouraged when people can’t see our vision, but it’s not for them to see; not initially. We have to trust our gut to paint the full picture, often in the dark of others’ approval.” -Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
This July, join us for our virtual 2025 Summer Writing Retreat featuring four classes on fiction, memoir, poetry, and revision, plus lots of special events throughout the month, including a Saturday Craft Seminar with Henry Lien (July 12), lunchtime craft presentations by notable authors, meet-ups with fellow writers, dedicated writing time, and our Student Reading Night.
Our memoir class, taught by Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, will focus on “A Deep Dive Into Memoir: The Stories We Retell & The Stories We Overlook.” In this class, students will learn how to refocus and galvanize the memories you may have forgotten.
Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning literary artist, director, performer, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. She authored Newsworthy (Bloomsday Literary, 2019) (translated into German, Berichtenswert, Elif Verlag, 2020), Black Chameleon (Henry Holt & Co., 2023), which won Best Nonfiction Book through the Texas Institute of Letters (2024). Mouton contributed writings for Glamour, Texas Monthly, and ESPN’s Andscape. This 3-time TedX presenter and international performer has been the keynote speaker for the Texas Library Association and the Texas Association for Literacy and Education, among others performing for crowds upwards of 37,000 people- including the Leipzig in Autumn Festival as an ambassador for the City of Houston. A former Resident Artist with American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture, her most recent works include a children’s book (Hush Hush Hurricane, Kokila) and an opera at The Kennedy Center.
Here’s what Deborah had to share with us:
Scribe: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you write? How did you come to writing?
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton: I’ve been a writer from a very early age. I used to use it to vent, and before long, found a love for words. I had a teacher in High School tell me I was a “writer.”
Scribe: In your own work, how do you approach overcoming the challenges that come with writing, be it writer’s block or craft or business-related challenges?
DM: I don’t believe in writer’s block. I think it is just our expectation not meeting what we’re producing. Sometimes life needs to inform the work. I think doing something unrelated and artistic or reading a good book can solve a myriad of issues.
Scribe: Has there been a moment of epiphany in terms of your work, when you thought, “This is it! Now I know what I’m doing?” How long did that feeling last?
DM: I think each project offers this feeling at some time. The work tells you what it wants to be if you’re listening. But it rarely outlast the moment. I’m more interested in being the steward of getting it to what it wants to be. The journey, the work, the discoveries are the reason I come back to the page.
Scribe: What piece of advice do you find yourself giving to writers again and again?
DM: Write the weird thing. We often get discouraged when people can’t see our vision, but it’s not for them to see; not initially. We have to trust our gut to paint the full picture, often in the dark of others’ approval.
Scribe: What excites you about teaching “A Deep Dive into Memoir” for the memoir track of the Summer Writing Retreat?
DM: I love watching the ah-ha moment where people realize that their story has value and resonates. Working in community offers you that in ways few other things do.
Scribe: How would you finish this sentence: If the students in my class take away one thing from the course, I hope it’s…
DM: The confidence to tell the hard story, the bravery to celebrate their failures, the willingness to champion their own victories, and the power to do it all with beautiful language.
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Thanks, Deborah!
Click here to learn more about Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s upcoming memoir class during the 2025 Summer Writing Retreat.
