Class Description
This workshop is designed for essay writers who are already working on personal essay projects and want to receive feedback in a supportive and constructively critical environment. The class will include in-depth workshops of student writing, discussions on the art and craft of the personal essay, and readings of exemplary works in the genre, including pieces by writers such as Elena Passarello, Charles D’Ambrosio, Valeria Luiselli, Edward Hoagland, Brian Doyle, Ross Gay, Scaachi Koul, and Alexander Chee.
In-class writing prompts will allow students to try their hand at different elements of personal essay writing. Over the course of the class, each student will submit two drafts of a single essay–a first draft and a revised version–and receive written and verbal feedback.
Since the content of personal essays often reflect intimate issues, controversial views, and real-life situations, we will ensure that conversations around the work and its content takes place in a supportive and respectful space.
Please note: Class does not meet Monday, October 14th, or Monday, November 11th.
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.