Class Description
In this advanced course, experienced students working on narrative, 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. Readings by exemplary authors and discussions will help you see your own narrative personal essays with fresh eyes. Authors read may include but are not limited to: Elif Batuman, Jo Ann Beard, Eula Bliss, Alexander Chee, Leslie Jamison, David Wong Louie, John McPhee, Grace Paley, Ned Stuckey-French, and Alex Tizon.
By the end of the course, you’ll have submitted work to the class for critique 3 times. You will receive feedback from both your classmates and the instructor on each of your submissions; equally important, each week you are expected to read and critique three submissions from your fellow students. Students will be given the responsibility to help shape the class and decide what topics the workshop will focus on by submitting 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 narrative nonfiction workshops at GrubStreet or elsewhere should apply.
If you have any technical difficulties filling out this application, please email [email protected].
Important dates:
This application deadline has now passed. Late applications will not be reviewed, but we encourage you to explore our other essay and nonfiction classes coming up this term: 6 Weeks, 6 Essays (AM), 6 Weeks, 6 Essays (PM Mondays), 6 Weeks, 6 Essays (PM Tuesdays), Making the Personal Universal in Nonfiction, Writing the Risky Personal Essay, and Next Level Nonfiction: Revise and Submit.
The payment deadline for admitted students is Friday, January 14th.
To apply, please click the red "SEE DIRECTIONS TO APPLY" button in the top right corner of this page. This application will ask you to detail your workshop experience; copy your answer to question 1 from the application and paste it into this field. This page will also ask you to upload a writing sample. Your writing sample and application (from step 1) should all be contained in a single document. Use the "choose file" button to locate your combined application and writing sample. Once you have located and uploaded your combined application & writing sample, click the "Apply" button. You will receive a confirmation email once our system has received your submission.
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!
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.
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.