Class Description
The facts are these: 1) We are not living in a post-racial anything, and 2) The good intention of well-meaning writers isn't enough to free our stories from reasserting harmful stereotypes. This is not an indictment, but more an invitation for all of us to do better, specifically when it comes to writing stories that aim to expand our limited perspectives, grow our imaginations, and boost our collective sense of compassion.
This workshop is about identifying the common pitfalls many writers when crafting stories featuring characters of color, and smart ways to avoid them. It will tackle how to illustrate that Black Life is vast—from ordinary to other worldly—without falling into the trope traps (Magical Negro, Sassy Black Sistuh Gurlfriend, Fetishized Black Lover, etc.). And it will cover how to fold in cultural quirks and details (like dialect) without turning into caricature or, worse, falling into unintentional racist and xenophobic territory.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.