This class will spend about half its time on reading as writers and half its time on workshop. The class will have a substantial reading and writing load. Students will be required to turn in two essays, both 10-15 pages in length, of which one will be revised as a final project. Depending on the number of students in the class, students’ work will be workshopped once or twice with the full class for peer feedback. Students will be expected to turn in peer critique letters on a regular basis, per standard workshop format. Each student will also be required to take a turn leading or co-leading discussion of an assigned reading. A few additional short writing assignments and exercises in the early weeks of class will be graded on a check basis.
Books will include a range of classics and recently published nonfiction, including journalism, sports, nature, travel, and autobiographical writing. Students will have considerable leeway to define their own projects.
- Selections from The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- A Sense of Where You Are by John McPhee
- An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
- An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
- Selections from Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
- Selections from Notes of A Native Son by James Baldwin