Dr. Anna Rumin is a native Montrealer, whose identity has been shaped by the political landscape of her home province, her Russian roots, and a passion for life-long learning that has been woven both formally in educational institutions, and informally through travel, voracious reading, the belief that each person has a unique story to tell, and a near obsession with the outdoors, be it in the forest, on a lake or a mountain. Regardless of who she is working with, Anna is committed to supporting those she leads, by providing them with opportunities to set and meet their goals. Her guiding questions in both her professional and personal life are: “why am I doing what I am doing and how is that practice supported through research, experience, an ethic of caring, and wisdom?” Having moved to Ottawa in the fall of 2014, Anna continues to look for ways in which she can make a meaningful contribution to the community using the skills she has acquired in the journey that is her life.
Read what participants have said about Dr. Rumin’s in-person writing workshops:
- Dr. Anna Rumin is one of the best teachers/facilitators I have ever had in my 80 years. She drew out the best in each participant. She was gracious in her comments, and excellent in the way she framed our critiquing. One could never feel “bad” in this group — always there was positive feedback –WITHOUT being sugar coated. Positive and honest. I loved this class, and hope that I will be able to get into another of her classes in the spring. PLEASE keep her on your roster of workshop lecturers.
- Not a moment was wasted. I really felt it was money well spent. I came away with a body of memoir writing that I will continue to develop at home. Dr. Rumin is an excellent lecturer. The information she shares about memoir writing and the encouragement she gives the participants in their own memoir writing is top quality. I would happily take another workshop with her and would recommend her workshops to my friends.
- The workshop met all of my expectations. Anna Rumin is a wonderful lecturer, the writing skills of the participants was very high, and the feedback that I received from all was generous, encouraging and useful.
- This was my 6th class with Dr. Rumin… that should speak for itself!
- Dr. Rumin creates an atmosphere of trust in the lecture room. Her warmth and encouragement give us the confidence to write pieces about our lives suitable for reading aloud. Her comments are always positive, deservedly or not. Her prompts and suggestions are very helpful. I learned a lot.
- Excellent instruction on how to do creative writing. Anna is very motivating and positive and has a firm command of her material and the pacing of the class. Loved how we had an opportunity to share and learn from other class participants. Great cross pollination encouraged by Anna. Best class ever!
- Anna did an excellent job of leading this workshop. Wonderful listener and she has done a smart job of structuring class feedback/interaction such that it is appropriate to the class (mostly retirees) and supportive and not intimidating.
- Anna Rumin is an excellent teacher. She knows and loves her subject, is attentive and supportive of each student and what they are wanting and aiming for. She knows how to pace the class very effectively, gives great and relevant homework and provides a wide range of useful reading references. She is respectful, kind and fun. This has been an outstanding learning experience for me and my classmates—beyond my expectations.
- Every Memoir writing course with Anna Rumin is brilliant. She inspires, engages and encourages participants with a graciousness that brings us back again and again.
- Dr. Anna Rumin is a highly gifted lecturer who really manages to encourage creative writing in her participants. I now have developed a daily writing practice thanks to her. The prompts and reading list are excellent.
Read what participants have said they enjoyed most about Dr. Rumin’s Fall 2021 “Memoir Writing: Writing Stories From Your Life” lecture series (offered online):
- Anna Rumin poured her heart into this series. Her lecture delivery, handouts, opportunity to post our writing on the blog, in-lecture writing guest speakers, and breakout groups – all contributed to an extraordinary learning experience. I’m embarking on writing my memoir, and I can’t imagine a better foundation to launch from. I really hope that Anna offers more of her writing workshops in the near future. I’ll be the first to sign up!
- Anna is amazing, so encouraging, knows her craft so well, love her enthusiasm and excellent feedback when commenting on our writing. I received so many nuggets from her lectures, I looked forward to every Wednesday morning. I’m excited now about continuing to write my stories whereas before it seemed tedious and uninviting, now with the prompts Anna gave it helps to get started and to keep me at it. So well done! I can’t wait to take another lecture with her.
- Good mix of didactic and ‘hands on’ writing exercises, many different opportunities to move beyond one’s comfort zone and share the writing in the blog, in lecture or in small group, abundant reference material, excellent notes. Overall, an excellent lecture series which encouraged participants to write.
- Dr. Rumin was very clear in outlining concepts. I am a total newbie to the subject, and she communicated the basic concepts with great clarity.
- The whole thing was wonderful. I learned to look at memoir writing from a new perspective. The best thing was the lecturer and how she organized the lecture series. Wonderful ideas. The guest speakers were also excellent and well chosen. Really complemented the lecture series.
- I like Anna’s knowledge, enthusiasm and how she interacted with the participants. I learned techniques for making my writing more interesting. I learned about a group of people that I had never come across before and I enjoyed being a part of the group.
- The lecturer was excellent, and the subject matter appealed to me. I learned so much about memoir-writing from Dr. Rumin. She is superb!
- Good format/structure. Practical learning experiences. Advice/feedback portion from Anna was excellent. I also liked the guest speakers— real life experiences with writing brought to fore, with good tips about moving forward.
- The lecturer was very dynamic, creative and encouraging
Read what participants have said they enjoyed most about Dr. Rumin’s Fall 2020 “Introduction to Memoir Writing: Writing Stories From Your Life” lecture series (offered online):
- …I LOVED this lecture series. Anna is an inspiring, thoughtful and compassionate lecturer and she is able to draw out the best in people. The stories that were shared throughout this lecture series and the guest speakers touched on our humanity, and vulnerability and I found this grounded me and nurtured my spirit and my vision during COVID. This series, the people and the stories that have been shared have been such a positive experience and a light in these shadow times. Many thanks also to the support staff who worked behind the scenes.
- It was the most valuable of several [LLeaP] offerings I have attended. This was largely due to the relevance of the content to me at this time of my life, and in the context of the pandemic. I was able to focus more both on the lecturer and on the contributions of other participants than in a classroom. The nature of the content has pointed me in directions I hope to follow in the coming year… It is a luxury not to have to get the car out or take transport to get to Carleton in Ottawa’s winter.
- So many positive aspects – Anna’s competent and supportive delivery, reading and hearing others’ stories, guest speakers, and of course the motivation to write (and the prompts for stimulus) were all contributing to a fantastic learning experience!
- I felt Anna invested considerable time and energy in encouraging people to write, reading their writing and giving extremely positive feedback… [T]he material provided was very useful. I also enjoyed most of the guest speakers.
- I thought it was remarkably well organized from the zoom perspective and on the part of Dr Rumin, who was consistently enthusiastic and positive, keeping me engaged and curious to learn more. She used the time very well, was punctual, which is great. I enjoyed having more material than I could read in a week and I enjoyed the variety of the prompts given
- …Anna is a very hands-on vibrant lecturer and she empowered me to feel I could do memoir writing and create collections of my work. It was very life-giving to remember things and people I did not know I remembered, and then to discover once the pump was primed, that the stories kept coming. It was a wonderful lecture series to take during Covid times. Hearing other’s stories was amazing.
- I enjoyed the writing and felt it stimulated parts of my brain I had not used for years. I delighted in listening to the other participants memoirs and stories. Anna was inviting and encouraging for someone who had not written for some time. The notes and outline were excellent, and Anna was very organized.
- I loved the feedback at the beginning and time to write in class. Also, the guest speakers were very informative while sharing their own experiences. Most helpful. The best thing about this lecture was Anna’s positive feedback and encouragement. She did an outstanding job of motivating us all to continue to write. Bravo, Anna.
- There was very good interface with the lecturer and the participants. The written notes were clear and very instructive. The lecturer was very encouraging and positive. The lecture series inspired me to finally try to do some writing and has encouraged me to continue writing on a daily basis.
- Anna is fantastic in her enthusiasm and guidance.
- I loved the content, and in particular Dr. Rumin’s feedback on the writing. I read the other participants’ writing ahead of time, and then to hear Dr. Rumin’s comments on those same items opened my eyes to all the things I had missed or hadn’t thought of! Her modelling of a writer’s response was fully as valuable as anything else in the course.
- The quality of the lectures and the way they course was structured. We covered a lot of ground in six weeks, with lots of tools and resources provide to keep up with the writing on our own. Anna Rumin is a fine lecturer.
- A couple of things: 1) It provided clear and useful guidance on improving our writing and on giving constructive feedback. 2) Despite the online format and the size of the lecture series, Dr. Rumin succeeded in creating a supportive and caring environment for people to share their life stories.
- Dr. Anna Rumin’s lecturing style and ability is top notch. In particular, this is not an easy medium to lecture in, and she nailed it.