Special Note:

Advanced Classes Deadline Today 5/20!—Our advanced workshops are by application only and limited to 9 students to foster a closer and more rigorous learning experience, so your writing can get the attention, feedback, and support it needs.

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

Advanced Revision and Submission: Nonfiction

Apply to Class Apply for Scholarship
  • $585.00 Non-Member
  • $560.00 Member

Class Description

In this advanced class, we'll dive into the neglected, misunderstood, and underrated skill of revision. Just finished a personal essay you're wildly proud of, but not sure you got the ending right? In love with your musings and own voice, but don't know, exactly, what your story is about? Terrified to cut a pretty sentence, or rearrange a scene, lest the whole essay fall to pieces? This is the class for you. In this course, each writer will submit to workshop at least twice. Your first submission will be a first draft--a beautiful, messy pile of uncut inspiration--and your second will be a revision of that essay, once you've gotten some feedback from the workshop and reflected on how you can improve it. There may be time to also workshop shorter essays, excerpts and exercises. The rest of our time will be dedicated to the discussion and analysis of the other craft elements; reading and discussing a wide range of personal essays; and conversations about the publishing landscape for personal essays. Authors whose work we may look at include Samuel R. Delany, Maxine Hong Kingston, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kevin Killian, and Justin Torres. We will be reading some selections from Pathetic Literature, an anthology edited by Eileen Myles.

Important dates:

This application deadline is Monday, May 20th by 11:59pm (EST).

The payment deadline for admitted students is Monday, May 27th.

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. 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!

Zoom Participation:

Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.

Zoom Accessibility:

We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!