Class Description
Trauma can be a devastating and life-altering experience. It can also offer precious writing material for personal essays and memoir, and even fiction and poetry. In this class, we will discuss how to write about traumatic events and experiences in ways that are sensitive and respectful, without exploiting ourselves or the characters (both real and imagined) in our works. In particular, we will review relevant pieces by authors such as Joan Didion, Dorothy Allison, and Mary Karr, as well as published works by lesser known authors. Then, the class will work on developing their own individual pieces or excerpts of longer projects by applying the techniques and devices we learned during the earlier half of the session.
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.