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  • Seminar
  • Online: Zoom
  • Adult (18+)

Writing About Trauma Without Compromising the Self - Remote!

No Longer Enrolling

  • $75.00 Non-Member
  • $65.00 Member

Class Description

Trauma is a main focal point for many writers, with a bulk of their work centered on dissecting and testifying against traumatic events they have experienced or witnessed in their lives. This can be necessary but tiring work, sometimes leading writers to see their pain as a crutch and re-traumatize the self; raising the question: how do we engage our pain in ways that are safe? In this workshop I invite participants to be brave. Reading the work of Patricia Smith, Natalie Diaz, Vievee Francis and more, we will analyze how their use of personification, tone, and form anchors and propels their writing forward. We have created defense mechanisms, built walls that have hardened into impenetrable fortresses as a means of survival but now that we have survived, these tools may no longer serve us. How do we shift the lens from our pain to acknowledge our healing. How might our writing change now that pain no longer fuels our work? What nuances can we find? We know how to write stories about the fire, now how do we write stories about emerging from the ash?

This class will be hosted using live Zoom meetings! You will be able to participate in class via Zoom videoconference from wherever you’re most comfortable. All you’ll need is a laptop or a phone! 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 via Zoom–no need to download anything or sign up for Zoom in advance! If you have questions about remote learning, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] for more information.

For a glimpse at how remote learning works, look no further than the deep Zoom discussion of writing and literature below:

Scholarship Information

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 more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.

Scholarships Format/Location

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.