Class Description
In these tumultuous times, you probably have strong opinions. But perhaps you don’t know how to turn them into strong essays that have sometime to say. Whether you want to write persuasive, opinion-based, commentary "op-ed" style essays in mainstream media, or reflective personal experience essays in literary magazines, in this workshop, you will learn how to turn your passions, expertise and personal takes into compelling, topical essays that touch on the political and social issues, news cycle and ideas of the moment.
Each week, we'll look at exemplary published works by a range of voices on diverse topics in a range of publications. Some will be torn from the pages (and web-pages) of newspapers, magazines, and online publications such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, WBUR Cognoscenti, Newsweek, The Guardian and The Washington Post. Others will be drawn from literary magazines such Witness, Guernica, The Sun, and Orion, and satirical publications such as McSweeney's Internet Tendency and The New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs." We will also examine masters of the politically-conscious essay: Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, James Baldwin, and others. We'll mine all these exemplary works for inspiration and instruction, and you’ll write and present to the workshop two new short essays -- one targeted as an 800 word op-ed; the other a longer, up to 2,000 word literary essay---for discussion and feedback.
The craft content will include: mining the best topics for you, based on your personal experience and expertise; practicing how to hone your ideas and opinions into a focused, timely, topical and marketable idea responsive to current events; and exploring voice, form, and rhetorical appeals (such as logos, ethos and pathos, and how to acknowledge other perspectives in your essays). Towards the end of the workshop, we will cover how to pitch and submit these essays to newspapers, magazines, online publications and literary magazines The class may include a guest visit by an editor from a publication (likely WBUR Cognoscenti) who will give their advice and perspective on the publishing process.
Driving to the center? For evening or weekend classes, we recommend SP+ Parking at 45 Binford Street for the most affordable parking around. It's about a 10-minute walk to GrubStreet and offers a flat rate of:
$13 after 4pm Monday-Friday
$9 all day Saturday-Sunday
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 in-person at our Center for Creative Writing in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.
Covid-19 Update:
GrubStreet's space will be mask-optional when Boston's Covid-19 Community Level is low or medium. When the Covid-19 Community Level is high, our space will require masks. Please check GrubStreet's Covid-19 page for the latest info on masking and Community Levels before visiting in person.
Space Accessibility:
Our space is ADA accessible with automatic door openers, ADA-compliant restrooms, desk and table spacing, braille signage, and elevator. Our classrooms can be equipped with ALS for hard of hearing individuals. We cannot guarantee a scent-free environment. For more accessibility requests, please contact our Operations team at [email protected] or (617) 695-0075.