Advanced Creative Nonfiction

This workshop course is intended for experienced writers of creative nonfiction who want to produce publishable work. Sometimes referred to as true stories, well told, creative nonfiction is a capacious genre. In the first half of the course we study writing by masters of the craft, including James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Cathy Park Hong, Audre Lorde, and Jo Ann Beard. In the second half, we use what we have learned—about scene, plot, character, point of view, and voice—to produce new work. Students may write memoirs, personal or lyric essays, profiles, and literary nonfiction. Toward the end of the course, we focus on strategies for getting published, including how to identify likely publication venues and how to effectively pitch editors.