Class Description
In this advanced course, experienced students working on narrative, short, medium-length or long-form personal essays will receive support, guidance, and feedback. We'll discuss elements of craft at a high level; try new forms, techniques, voices, and structures; and develop strategies for revision. Prompts, exercises, readings by exemplary authors, and discussion will help you see your own narrative personal essays with fresh eyes. Authors read may include, but are not limited to Joan Didion, David Sedaris, James Baldwin, and Jessmyn Ward (among others).
By the end of the course, you’ll have submitted work to the class for critique at least 2 times. (Please note that you will receive feedback from both your classmates and the instructor on each of your submissions.)
Students will be given the responsibility to help shape the class and decide what craft topics the class discussion will focus on. Student will also determine the kind of feedback they seek on each essay during the workshop of their works by submitting topics and questions about their writing along with their essay draft for each submission. Space is limited to 9 students to foster a closer and more rigorous learning experience. Only experienced essay writers who have taken previous essay or narrative nonfiction workshops at GrubStreet or elsewhere should apply.
Important dates: The application deadline for this class has now passed. Applications submitted after Monday, September 9th 11:59pm (EST), will not be reviewed and will not receive a response. The payment deadline for admitted students is Monday, September 16th.
Please note: Class does not meet on Tuesday, November 5th.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
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.