Class Description
This workshop is part of GrubStreet's Manuscript Month, a programming deep dive into the publishing journey. Learn more about Manuscript Month here!
In this four-week close reading group, we will read and discuss Mohsin Hamid's Exit West, a speculative literary novel that focuses on migration and the global refugee crisis. Through careful attention to sentence-level craft, scene creation, voice, and the weaving in of speculative elements, we will explore how Hamid creates momentum, urgency, and empathy in the narrative.
Each week, we’ll focus on a small section of the book, slowing down to examine how scenes work on the page. Topics will include: narrative voice and point of view, compression and escalation, tonal shifts, and the ethical stakes of storytelling. Along the way, we will consider what this novel can teach us about the possibilities of fiction.
This group is designed for writers and readers who want to read more attentively and talk seriously about craft. Participants should expect lively discussion, close textual analysis, and the pleasure of spending sustained time with a book that deals with important and divisive contemporary issues through an empathetic lens.
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.