Kelly DuMar

Diary/Journal Writing Expert and Author of Before You Forget - The Wisdom of Writing Diaries for Your Children

Kelly DuMar is author of the award-winning book for parents, Before You Forget - The Wisdom of Writing Diaries for Your Children. She has been facilitating Diary Door writing workshops for the past 25 years, and she is a published playwright whose plays have been produced around the country.

A life-long passionate diarist, Kelly began writing personal diaries at age 13, and she has been writing diaries for her three children since before they were born (now 19, 15, and 10).

A certified psychodramatist, Kelly has years of experience acting in and directing psychodramas in clinical and educational settings. For eight years she had a private psychotherapy practice in Florida. In 1994, she closed her practice and returned to her native New England where she facilitates writing workshops that promote the creative power and healing aspects of blending diary/journal writing, poetry, and storytelling with improvisational action techniques.

Kelly’s playwriting career began just after publishing Before You Forget in 2001, when she joined Playwrights’ Platform, Boston, a developmental writing cooperative for playwrights where she is currently serving as Interim President.

Kelly has a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Master's degree in education from Harvard University. Kelly was honored for her work in promoting psychodrama by being made a Fellow in the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama in 1999.

Kelly lives on the Charles River in Metro West Boston with her husband, three children, and dog Flash.

Visit Kelly's Stagedoor Blog at www.diarydoor.typepad.com/stagedoor