Department of English

In a world numb from information overload, the best way to reach and move readers is through a powerful story. Parachute into somebody's life or into the center of an important issue or news event and create for your readers a drama, an adventure. Some narrative stories take months. Others, an afternoon. Students in the class will study the ingredients and techniques of writing narrative non-fiction for newspapers and magazines and write three significant pieces themselves. They will read great writers, old and new, Joseph Mitchell, Ernie Pyle, Steve Lopez, William Geist, Sara Rimer, Richard Ben Cramer, Mark Bowden and other great storytellers from the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, including my own Pulitzer Prize winning series, Final Choices. Those interested in taking the course should submit one or two samples of their best nonfiction work. Since the instructor is not on campus in the fall term, please give the samples to the department secretary, Anne Marie Pitts who will pass them along.