Intro to the Personal Essay

Ready to get your life stories out of your journal and into the world? If you want to learn the art of writing personal essays, but have no idea where to begin (or you need a refresher), this course is for you. Over four weeks, you will learn the essentials of the personal essay, and put them into practice by writing your own essays. Each week, we will discuss an element of craft, including scene and summary, reflection, narrator and character, and revision, and study published examples from authors like Audre Lorde, Amy Tan, James Baldwin, Sy Montgomery, Berry Grass, Joan Didion, and more. To put what we learn into practice, we’ll use prompts and different essay forms to inspire our own drafts. During the second half of the class, you’ll have the chance to workshop and revise at least one of these essays with the entire class. By the end of the course, you will have generated two essay drafts and the insight and inspiration to continue developing your essays.

Class Format

This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!