Class Description
When someone says science fiction and fantasy, five hundred-page tales of robots and dragons possibly come to mind. The classics were written in the 60's and 70's, speculating on the future that we’re currently living in, but there’s still a future to speculate on ourselves. In this course, we’ll travel through time and to far away lands via lectures, readings, illustrations and videos. We’ll explore the birth of both genres and their subgenres, concentrating on story elements that are unique to these genres, such as world-building; Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey theory of the protagonist; and infusing tales with social commentary and critique.
This class involves weekly readings and discussions (20-40 pages) and short writing prompts. The final week of the course will be focused on workshopping a short story that you will craft throughout the first five weeks. Short story writers and novelists alike are welcome, as are students new to the genre. We will be reading excerpts from Quisloana: a Dominican fantasy anthology, Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae. Lectures will be on work from authors such as N.K. Jemisin, P. Djeli Clark, and Tomi Adeyemi.
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. Please visit the Resources tab to access the video-conference link.
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!