Department of English

The Creative Writing Program in the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) is sponsoring a Spring 2008 advanced nonfiction workshop in literary journalism to be taught by LEE EISENBERG. Mr. Eisenberg, a Penn alumnus, spent 17 years at Esquire magazine, where he served as editor-in-chief. Under his stewardship, Esquire won numerous National Magazine Awards, and routinely published fiction and non-fiction by acclaimed writers such as Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, Don DeLillo, Nora Ephron, among many others. 

In 1995, Mr. Eisenberg was hired to oversee creative development at Time magazine, where he helped launch "Time for Kids", a newsmagazine for children, and helped launch Time's chronicle of the most influential men and women of the 20th Century, a series of special issues that gave rise to primetime specials in collaboration with CBS news. 

Mr. Eisenberg's writing has appeared in many national magazines, including Business Week, Rolling Stone, Fortune, and New York. His most recent book, The Number (Free Press), published in 2006, was a New York Times Bestseller. He is currently working on a book about consumer behavior.  

In this new course, each student will write a 3,000-word nonfiction piece on a timely topic, to be judged on the merits of reporting and distinctive voice -- an article that might appear in a quality magazine such as The Atlantic, Harper's, or the New York Times. 

Mr. Eisenberg, who lives and works in Chicago, will make four extended visits to Penn. Students must be available for individual or group meetings on Thursday evening, all day Friday, and Saturday morning during these periods: 

January 17-19
February 7-9
March 20-22
April 24-26

Applications should include: a short note describing your interest and relevant experience (coursework and otherwise) and a brief (8 pages max.) sample of your writing. Those with resumes can send one also, but it's not required.  Send your application to John Carroll at johnpc@writing.upenn.edu